Chaos Theory
by Br00keSc0tt
Summary: College fic! High School's over and now they're in college! With even more drama. Brooke and Lucas and trying things solo,but how long will that last? Nathan, Peyton and Haley are dealing with college life too. If you liked my other fics... you'll love it
1. Chapter 1

Chaos Theory- Seemingly random events all leading to a larger equation. Everything is unpredictable. A butterfly flaps it's wings in China and creates a tornado half-way around the world.

Brooke Davis threw her very last bag into the back of her best friend Peyton Sawyer's car. Today was the day… She and Peyton had talked about this day for as long as she could remember. They had had it planned since they were 6. Now it was finally here… the drive to college. Usually, kids parents would take them to their college, get them checked in, cry a little… and leave. Not Brooke and Peyton's. In-fact Brooke hadn't even told her parents where she was going to college… for all they knew she was off in some back ally dealing drugs or something. And Peyton's parents… well she had 2 dead mothers and her father was off at sea… so Brooke and Peyton were on their own.

"Ok P. Sawyer! This is it!" Brooke squealed shutting the trunk to Peyton's car and clapping her hands together. They were free! No one making them do anything… and she was loving it.

"Brooke… are you sure you don't want to just ride with Lucas and Nathan?"

"Why would we do something like that?"

"Brooke…" Peyton whined rolling her eyes at Brooke. She really didn't feel like driving all the way to New York, especially with Brooke.

"Look Peyton… they're guys! Plus… Deb and Karen are taking them, what fun is that? We're 18! We're finally free from parents and everything else! Lets just enjoy this! We can find us some hotties on the way… take them to NYU with us! Lock them in our dorm room and only let them out for sex!"

"If you say so" Peyton sighed agreeing with Brooke. She knew everything coming out of Brooke's mouth was complete crap. She could see it in her face. Brooke wanted to ride with Lucas more than anything… but ever since 2 weeks ago, when they had broken up so they would each have space for college, they were both driving Peyton and Nathan crazy. Brooke and Lucas had spent most of senior year inseparable. They were both so obviously head over heels in love with each other, and they were miserable apart. Only Karen had to open her big mouth and suggest that maybe it would be an easier adjustment for college if they went single. After all… they might meet new people. Brooke and Lucas had both reluctantly agreed… and it was a mutual, civil break up. Other than Brooke crying for 3 straight days to Peyton… and Lucas not leaving his house. Peyton thought it had gone pretty well… in fact when they had all gone to dinner the night before. Brooke and Lucas had even sat together… without making out. It was definitely a start.

"Don't give me that look Peyton"

"What? No look… too bad Haley isn't going to be with us though"

"That little whore… who says Yale is THAT much better than NYU anyway?" Brooke asked hopping into the car. She loved Haley and all… but she was kind of glad Haley was going somewhere different. After all she had lived with her for a year, and as much as she loved her tutor girl… They definitely didn't need to be at the same college.

"Everyone"

"Well while she is studying her little smart ass off… we can just party our dumb ones off"

"I just feel bad for Nathan… you know? I mean him and Haley were finally at an OK point" Peyton sighed double checking to make sure they had everything. Nathan and Haley had had a tough year. They had gotten a divorce and were now trying to work things out… together, only for the summer to end and them to be separated.

"He'll be fine… let him meet some New York chi—oh no"

"What"

"I forgot about the girls" Brooke whined running her fingers through her hair.

"What?"

"Well I totally knew NY was going to have some male hotties for me… but"

"Female hotties for Lucas?" Peyton asked watching as Brooke cringed. It was obvious she was still hurting and living with Brooke these next few months wasn't going to be fun.

"No! No… no… All the girls in New York are ugly… Peyton, tell me they're ugly!"

"I think you might want to start preparing yourself for the worst"

"What do you mean?" Brooke asked giving Peyton her sad puppy face. Why couldn't Peyton just be nice and comfort her? Tell her that Lucas was going to spend all his college life pining for her like he had done in high school. It would make things so much easier.

"So classes start in a few weeks… Lucas meets some girl in his English Lit. Class… she's into books and music and writing like he is and she asks him out…"

"I'll kick her little ass!"

"And you meet this hottie model who is totally into you… what are you going to do if Lucas kicks his ass?" Peyton asked trying to help Brooke see both sides. She wasn't sure why though. Brooke didn't care about fair. Brooke just wanted Lucas and she'd do whatever she had to to get him… or keep him from dating anyone else.

"Is he hotter than Lucas?"

"Brooke… come on, we both know you weren't dating Lucas for his looks… well not the 2nd time"

"Fine… is he as sweet as Lucas? As romantic? Damn it Peyton! Why did we break up?" Brooke asked, this time she was serious. Everytime she thought about their 'break up' it didn't make any since. They hadn't wanted to date anyone else all year… why was college going to be any different?

"Because you need to experience life without Lucas Scott, stay strong, who knows! You could meet the guy you want to marry here… just give it time"

"You drive… I'm gonna need a drink"

Lucas and Nathan waited by the car for Karen and Deb to finish their sob fest they were having in the house. Neither of them saw that the big deal was. It wasn't like Karen and Deb had been around THAT much during Lucas and Nathan's high school years. Now all of the sudden going to college was such a big deal…Lucas was starting to wish he had just ridden with Brooke and Peyton.

"So… how's life without Brooke?" Nathan asked finally breaking the tension between him and Lucas. It was still awkward, even after working everything from the past year out.

"Calmer…a lot quieter… I can actually save my money?"

"Sucks huh?"

"Pretty much… I even thought about going over there this morning to talk to her, maybe rethink this whole space for college thing" Lucas said, looking down at his shoes. Nathan knew what that meant… it hadn't gone well.

"Yea? What happened?"

"She and Peyton were already planning their first NYU dates"

"Sounds about right…" Nathan laughed. He felt bad for Lucas… It had taken him a long time to finally be with Brooke, and now the poor guy was lost with out her. Even worse, Nathan had a feeling Brooke, being Brooke wasn't having nearly as hard of a time.

"I don't know, I mean as much as this sucks for me… I guess it will be good for Brooke"

"Yea, but isn't she the only reason you're going to NYU?"

"Isn't Haley the only reason you are?" Lucas asked. What were they thinking? He and Nathan had both turned down Carolina for NYU… pretty much just because of Brooke and Haley. And now here they were… going to NYU as single men.

"Ok Boys…we're ready" Karen smiled coming outside with tear streaks down her face. Lucas wasn't really in the mood to give her any pity. In fact he didn't really want to talk to her at all, after all it was her who had put the crazy break up idea into him and Brooke's heads.

"I still think we should have just ridden with the girls" Nathan whispered as he climbed into the car.

"Lucas, where's Brooke?"

"Riding with Peyton, they're gonna meet up with us when we get there"

"Good… I need to make sure and tell Brooke bye and give her her present… there's no telling when I'll see her again" Karen said, her eyes filling with tears again.

"Mom…"

"I'm just saying… people grow apart in college Lucas, and I don't want you to spend all your time worrying about her, she's going to meet new people and so will you."

"All of this just because you don't like me dating her?" Lucas asked, he knew this wasn't the time or place to get into this but he didn't really care. It was going to happen sooner or later and sooner just seemed better.

"Lucas… you know I love Brooke, my god she became like my child over the past few years, but as much as I love you both… I think this is what you need"

"Nathan… just don't get any STD's…" Deb smiled looking back at Nathan.

"Thanks mom…"

"Lets hit the road"

Brooke sat in the car listening to her Pink Ipod as Peyton drove. Lucas had given it to her for her birthday. She didn't really like listening to music, but anything was better than having to hear Peyton's crap. Besides, it did give her time to think… What she was going to wear to her first class, what was the first thing she was going to do when they got there, if there were going to be any hott guys in her classes… and if she was even going to be able to like any of them even ½ as much as she did Lucas. Ok… so maybe thinking hadn't been the best idea. It hurt too much and before long she was going to start crying… and she sure as hell wasn't going to have that. Especially with Peyton right there…

"How the hell did they beat us here?" Peyton asked in seeing Nathan, Lucas, Karen and Deb waiting outside in the parking lot, already unpacked.

"Deb was probably driving…Look at Lucas standing there! He's wearing the shirt I gave him because he knows he looks good in it and it's going to drive me crazy! Jerk"

"Brooke… weren't you the one who said Karen had a good idea?"

"Yea… but he was supposed to say 'No she doesn't… I could never date anyone but you and all that good stuff" Brooke sighed. She couldn't believe Peyton was actually taking his side! It wasn't like she wanted to end things with Lucas… it just seemed like she didn't have a choice.

"Someone's a little selfish"

"Bite me"

"Hey girls… we were just going to grab some dinner" Karen said giving both the girls a hug and handing them each a gift bag.

"Great…dinner with the moms"

"Hey" Brooke smiled leaning in to give Lucas an awkward hug. This seriously sucked… especially since 2 weeks ago at this time they had been making out.

"Hey…"

"Awkward much?"

"Seriously… come here" Lucas laughed pulling Brooke in for a less awkward hug and a kiss on the cheek. He assumed that was ok… he hadn't ever had to do anything like this before. But Brooke didn't seem to mind… she even stood beside him holding his hand.

"How was the trip?"

"Ok… long… boring"

"Lets get you girls stuff inside…" Karen yawned opening Peyton's crammed full trunk.

"Brooke… did you pack enough?"

"Ha funny… and the Uhaul isn't even here until tomorrow, and guess who gets to unload it for me?" Brooke asked raising her eyebrows at Lucas. This wasn't so bad… it was like dating…without the kissing.

"Me I'm taking it?"

"Yep…"

"Don't worry about it Peyt… I got it" Nathan said offering to take Peyton's stuff for her since Lucas hadn't.

"Thanks Nate… We'll be up in a sec" Peyton smiled giving the guys and the moms time to get upstairs. She needed to have a serious talk with Brooke about her and Lucas's whatever that was. But before she could get a word out, there came trouble… or at least a hottie.

"You lady's need some help?"

"Sure…" Peyton smiled. This guy was perfect for Brooke. Totally the Anti-Lucas. Tan, brown hair, brown eyes… he looked like he was some California surfer…

"I'm Cole"

"Peyton"

"Brooke" Brooke smiled remembering it was ok to introduce herself. She still had it imprinted in her brain that she had a boyfriend, and that it wasn't ok to be a total flirt… at least she did until Peyton kicked her.

"You girls freshmen?"

"Yep…"

"Cool… its about time we got some hott freshmen on this campus" Cole smiled looking directly at Brooke. But instead of smiling back or blushing… she really just wanted to send the guy away… being with Lucas for so long had had a serious affect on her.

"See! Peyton! I told you all the girls were ugly!"

"Brooke… he's hitting on you" Peyton whispered

"I knew that…"

"That is if you don't have a boyfriend…" Cole smiled pulling out his cell phone. Brooke didn't know what to say… No, she didn't have a boyfriend, but what was to say she and Lucas wouldn't get back together like tonight or something?

"She doesn't"

"Good… I saw that guy with his arm around you and… I wasn't sure"

"That's her… brother" Peyton smiled totally lying. Brooke didn't know whether to be proud of her best friend or being so devious… or be mad at her for calling Lucas her brother!

"Good to know… and Peyton, I've got some friends…"

"He has friends…"

"Look… I don't want to interrupt, I know first day of college is a family thing, but here are my digits, give me a call sometime" Cole smiled handing Brooke a piece of paper with his number on it.

Nathan and Lucas watched out the window as Brooke and Peyton talked to some guy. Nathan could see Lucas getting madder and madder by the second. That had to suck for him… having to watch that. He was going to have to watch every guy Brooke dated now. Nathan was just glad Haley was at Yale, at least that way if she was with someone else, he didn't have to see.

"So let me get this straight… I get to un-pack her stuff, go to dinner, hang out with her, and watch her flirt with other guys…" Lucas sighed laying back on Brooke's bed.

"Yep… but she gets to do the same with you"

"I really don't like college"

"Come on man, you'll find someone, its not like you and Brooke were going to be together forever anyway… High school whatever's don't last" Nathan said, obviously speaking from experience.

"That's everything until tomorrow… we'll unpack then, lets go check out the town" Peyton said joining them in the room with Brooke lagging behind her.

"You kid have fun… Deb and I are going to head back" Karen said relunctantly. Lucas could tell she didn't want to leave, but he guessed Deb had said something to her about letting them be on their own.

"Bye Karen"

"Bye mom… I'll call you"

"I'll call you too" Karen cried giving Lucas one last hug.

"Bye"

"Alright… you guys ready?" Peyton asked once Deb and Karen were finally gone.

"I think I'm gonna stay here… try to unpack a little"

"Brooke Penelope Davis! You're in New York City! And in college…"

"And I'm going to be for like the next 4 years…" Brooke sighed sitting down on Peyton's bed. She wasn't in the mood to go out… or be anywhere near Lucas.

"Fine… Luke, Nate?"

"I'm gonna check out the library"

"Fine… Nathan?" Peyton asked getting frustrated.

"I'm in…we can leave these 2 to pine and whine all they want too"

"Sounds good to me"

Nathan and Peyton walked through campus together trying to take it all in. They were actually in college now… this wasn't high school anymore… it was real life. They were both quiet, usually when they all went out Brooke and Lucas were with them talking non stop about pointless stuff that always ended in them fighting, and then making out. Peyton guessed they didn't have to worry about that anymore.

"You think they're in the sack yet?" Nathan laughed looking at his watch. It had been a good 10 minutes since they left…

"No… I think they're serious about it. Its going to be hard for them for a while"

"We didn't have such a hard time after we broke up…"

"Yea… but that's because you were a jerk and I was like suicidal… bad mix" Peyton sighed rolling her eyes at Nathan.

"That's true…I can't even remember now why we broke up"

"Because you were a jerk and I was into Lucas"

"I think I was into Haley by then too" Nathan laughed trying to 1 up Peyton. He had forgotten how much fun Peyton could really be… They had been friends since they broke up… but not friends friends… at least not until summer.

"Probably… anyway, its funny screwed all that got"

"Tell me about it"

"I mean seriously… could you have ever imagined Brooke and Lucas would be the epic romance that they are now? Brooke Davis and Lucas Scott…" Peyton laughed still finding it funny how 2 people so deferent had lasted longer than any of them.

"Definitely not… I always imagined me and Brooke"

"Ew…"

"I know…" Nathan laughed.

"And then you and Haley… I guess its true what the say… opposites attract"

"How's Jake?"

"I don't know… I mean I get a letter every once in a while, but you know" Peyton said giving Nathan a fake smile. She hadn't talked to anyone about Jake in what seemed like forever, and she had forgotten how much it hurt.

"You know if you ever want to talk… or just hang, I'm here for you Peyton"

"Thanks Nate…Same for you"

Brooke stood at the edge of her bed waiting for Lucas to get off. Who did he think he was? Lying in her bed like he was the king of her dorm room. Last time she checked… they weren't together. Although him lying there all hott like that was getting to her, then it hit her… so what if they weren't dating, that didn't mean they couldn't have fun.

"Slide" Brooke said laying down next to Lucas. After all he was on HER bed…

"Isn't this breaking the rules?"

"Dawson and Joey did it"

"I don't want to end up like Dawson and Joey" Lucas laughed sliding over to give Brooke more room.

"Lucas… shut up and just kiss me"

"What?"

"I can't take it anymore! I will not have the first guy I sleep with at college be some random guy… we're having sex" Brooke whined sitting up so she could see him.

"But we're broken up"

"Your point?"

"My point… friends don't have sex" Lucas said taking her hand. This wasn't about sex… this was about Brooke not wanting to let go, neither did he… but seeing her look this hurt and upset was starting to make him see that maybe Karen had been right… they had to give each other space.

"Well these friends do… I think your mom was right, we need space, we need to be able to grow as people and all that crap… but I always said my first night at college I was having sex in my dorm room… and the only person I want to sleep with right now is you" Brooke whispered, letting the tears run down her cheeks. She couldn't remember ever hurting this bad, even after she found out about Lucas and Peyton…

"Brooke"

"Lucas… its too hard! I don't want to have to do this all over again"

"It's just going to be harder if we do it Brooke" Lucas whispered pulling her in to comfort her. He wanted so badly to just say screw it all and kiss her, to make it all go away for her so they could both stop hurting… but they both knew, that wasn't going to help anything.

"But I don't want anyone else Luke, this really hott fabulous guy gave me his phone number outside! And you know what? All I could think was sorry… I'm taken! Then I remembered I wasn't and Peyton told him you were my brother and"

"I think this is why we have to make sure this works Brooke. We're too attached" Lucas whispered kissing the top of her head as she cried into his chest. This was the first time he'd ever seen her cry like this and it was killing him.

"I like attached"

"Me too… but this isn't high school anymore Brooke, and we're going to end up resenting each other if we stay together right now… its all we know and when classes start, we're going to meet people, and make new friends and if we're together its going to be hard to do that…You know I'm in love you Brooke Davis…but the last thing I want is for you to miss out on something because we're together"

"I'm in love with you too you know" Brooke whispered after a long pause. She hated so much that he was right. Right now she just wanted to go back home and be in high school again, where her biggest problem was Rachel.

"I know…"

"But what if we break up and that goes away, Lucas I don't want to love anyone else"

"Someone once told me 'People who are meant to be together always find their way in the end' I'm not too worried about loving anyone else the way I love you Pretty Girl" Lucas whispered giving her one last kiss. Her lips were trembling and salty from her tears. He kept it short, but sweet…

"Just to warn you, I might hate the first girl you go out with that isn't me…"

"That's ok… I know I'll hate the first guy you go out with… actually I'm probably going to hate any guy you go out with"

"So no more sex?" Brooke laughed wiping her tears away with her sleeve

"As much as I hate to say it… nope. But"

"But?"

"You can come out with me" Lucas said grabbing her jacket.

"To Time Square?"

"Where else?"

"K… but you better bring your wallet because I'm hungry and I need a top to wear to the first day of classes"


	2. Chapter 2

Wow you guys! Those were amazing reviews! Thank you so much! I'm sooo glad you guys like this story! I know I do! Haha… enjoy this chapter! And as always! THANKS Kaela! Without her… this story would probably suck! I love Kaela! Haha

Enjoy!

Brooke stood outside the bathroom showers waiting for someone to get out. This was so gross! There was no telling what kind of disease these people had… and here she was having to shower in the same shower with them! And she thought using Lucas's old shower was gross. She watched as the gross girl in front of her used one of the clean towels to wipe away her sweat, and then put it back! That was it… Brooke Davis would go to class smelly before getting inside one of those things! Luckily… she wouldn't have too, Lucas and Nathan… being the spoiled little boys they were had suites, which meant they only had to share a bathroom with the room beside them.

"Well if it isn't my 2 favorite guys!" Brooke smiled bursting into Lucas and Nathan's dorm room.

"Brooke… its like 6AM"

"Well not all of us got blessed with late morning classes…"

"What do you want?" Nathan groaned rolling her eyes at her. She was way too cheery for it to be this early in the morning.

"Can I use your shower? Please!"

"What's wrong with yours?"

"Mine? Mine is shared with like 2 billion other girls! Its gross! Please! Please! Lucas…" Brooke begged looking as sad as possible.

"Don't use all the hot water"

"You're the best!"

"I thought girls were supposed to go away when you broke up with them" Nathan laughed once Brooke was in t he bathroom.

"Kinda like Peyton's run so far away from you? You 2 have been spending a lot of time together lately"

"Maybe its because you and Brooke don't leave each others sides… broken up or not, and we don't know anyone else?"

"Brooke and I are doing better…" Lucas lied. He knew they weren't… if anything they were worse than ever… only without the making out and sex

"Why was she knocking on our door at 3AM last week then?"

"I had to go kill a spider for her"

"Uh huh… and when I woke up you 2 were asleep together because?" Nathan asked raising his eyebrows at lucas.

"She was scared there were more spiders in her bed…"

"Uh huh… sure"

"Brooke's going through a hard time right now…" Lucas said, trying to think of some excuse on why they had been here 3 weeks and neither had moved on… at all.

"Lucas! I can't get the shower on! Shit that's cold!"

"Dude… You're so whipped…"

After her freezing cold shower Brooke walked with Peyton to class. They set their classes so they had at least 2 together… and one of them happened to be an 8:00 class. It just so happened to be History… Brooke's least favorite subject ever. It was a good thing Peyton was in there with her because she was going to need someone to explain why it was important.

"Where were you this morning?" Peyton asked knowing the answer. She was starting to worry that Brooke was getting no where with this…

"Showering…at Lucas and Nathan's…"

"Brooke…"

"What? I'm trying! I just didn't want to use the gross showers!" Brooke shrieked. She did have a valid point…no one wanted to shower in the grossness!

"Uh huh… sure and did you ever call Cole back?"

"Not exactly… he's just not my type"

"Brooke! He has Brooke Davis written all over him! Lucas isn't your type remember?" Peyton asked dragging Brooke into class.

"Just give me some time here Peyton…" Brooke said bumping right into a tall sexy blonde guy.

"Hi"

"Hi…" Brooke smiled winking at him. Now he was hott…

"Sacul" The guy said sticking out his hand to shake her's. Peyton could believe this… Miss I need more time had already found a guy… who surprisingly looked a lot like Lucas.

"Your parents must have hated you…"

"Its French… you can call me Zac"

"So Zac… got a girlfriend?" Brooke asked raising her eyebrow at him, and moving in closer. It was time she went back to her old ways…. If she wanted a guy, she had to seduce him…

"Nope…"

"Boyfriend?"

"Definitely not" Zac laughed flashing his cute smile at Brooke. It wasn't a heart melting loose all control of everything, totally red in the face blushing effect like Lucas's smile caused… but it would have to do.

"Then I'm Brooke"

"Hi Brooke…"

"Brooke can I see you for a minute?" Peyton laughed seeing the devious look on Brooke's face. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all if Brooke was just going to resort back to her old ways.

"Hold on just a sec… save me a seat?"

"Sure…"

"What happened to needing time?" Peyton asked pulling her in the corner of the room

"I met Zac… he's hott…" Brooke smiled. Plus she knew he would make Lucas totally insanely jealous…so much so he just might want to call this whole stupid arrangement off.

"Do you like him because he's hott… or because he'll make Lucas jealous?"

"Does it matter?"

Lucas's first class of the day started at 9:00 and luckily it was a good one. English Lit. It was pretty un-eventful to say the most. In fact Lucas was actually bored. He tried to remember what had made English lit. so much fun in high school, other than the reading outside of class. Then he remembered… Brooke was always in his English class. How, he didn't know since he was in honors English and Brooke was Brooke. But she always made it interesting and fun. Which was why he was so glad to run into her after class.

"Broody… you're too easy to stalk" Brooke smiled sneaking up behind Lucas. He looked crazy hott today… so hott that Zac was looking pretty ugly right about now…

"Uh huh, you look hott… what's up?" Lucas asked putting his arm around her. She guessed it was just habit, but she didn't say anything for fear he might take it off. Plus…he had just told her she looked hott… definitely a plus.

"I think I'm lost…"

"You and me both… where are you trying to get?"

"Economics?" Brooke whined

"Me too…"

"Thank god… I thought I was actually going to have to learn to manage money! Now you can do it for me!"

"Come on…" Lucas sighed pulling her closer. It sent chills down her spine. She guessed it was true… absence made the heart grow fonder… and fight now… she was definitely fond. It was all-perfect… almost like normal until it happened.

"Brooke!"

"Zac…" Brooke sighed giving him a little wave. She tried to smile, but it was definitely a downer when Lucas took his arm away.

"Hi"

"Zac, Lucas, Lucas, Zac… Zac's in Peyton and Is History class, Lucas my… friend"

"Nice to meet you… I was just wondering if you wanted to go get some coffee after your next class?" Zac asked. He couldn't have been any sweeter when he asked, all nervous and such… but Brooke really just wanted to slap him for asking in front of Lucas. Not now… she wanted to wait until Lucas had done something to really piss her off before bringing in Zac.

"Um… sure"

"I'll call you" Zac said getting a huge grin on his face.

"K…"

"I don't like him" Lucas said once Zac was gone. She wasn't sure if he was saying it seriously… or if he just saw how nervous she looked and was trying to smooth things over. Either way it made her feel better.

"Be nice… he's nice… it's just a drink"

"Uh huh… I remember what you like to do when you take guys out for drinks"

"Yes… I think I might just have to seduce him… kidding! Is this awkward?" Brooke asked… not sure if they were at the joking point or not yet.

"Sorta… but I guess that's good?"

"I don't know anymore… I guess it could be worse"

"How so?" Lucas asked putting his arm back around her… it made her feel a little better.

"We could be like Peyton and Nathan…"

"You see it too?"

"She talks about him non stop! It's a good thing Haley isn't here" Brooke laughed rolling her eyes at the thought of a Haley/Nathan/Peyton triangle.

"Who'd of thought…I think we're here"

"Ugh… why did I sign up for this class again?"

"So you don't end up broke like your parents?" Lucas asked opening the door for her.

"Fine… but your sitting beside me so I can copy your stuff"

"I wouldn't have it any other way"

After her class Peyton met up with Nathan in his dorm room for lunch. Neither of them were really having much luck meeting people. And it was just so much easier to hang out together and talk, instead of having to deal with the trouble of meeting all new friends.

"Hey… Where's Lucas?" Peyton asked looking around Nathan's dorm room, expecting to see a morning Lucas.

"With Brooke?"

"I doubt it… Brooke has Zac now…"

"Zac?" Nathan said nodding his head. He didn't seem too surprised.

"Yea… Sacul, its her Lucas clone"

"What?"

"She met him in History… He's like the French version of Lucas, I guess Brooke thinks if she cant have Lucas… she can have his clone" Peyton laughed shaking her head. This was all so screwed up… and it was only going to get worse.

"Twisted… what's that?"

"It's a flyer I got in Geography… its for this masked party…"

"What?" Nathan asked looking the flyer over… it looked pretty interesting

"Its so you meet people, without judging their looks. Everyone wears a mask and you mingle with other people. Then at the end of the night… you take the mask off and see what the look like"

"Sounds risky"

"I guess… but it could also help us meet people" Peyton said taking the flyer back.

"We should try it then…"

"You want too?"

"Why not? We're going to start driving each other crazy at this rate" Nathan laughed giving Peyton his shy smile.

"Tell me about it… who's on?"

"Haley… she's telling me about her classes today"

"Right… we'll I'll let you 2 have fun Iming or whatever… call me later?" Peyton asked leaving Nathan to be with his computer…

"Sure… if you see Lucas tell him he needs to get his ass back here and explain what Brooke's clothes are doing all over the place…"

"Will do"

Brooke waited at Starbucks for Zac. For the first time in a long time, she was nervous. Not really about the coffee… it was more a guilty nervous. She wasn't sure why she felt so guilty… it wasn't like she was doing anything wrong. Lucas knew, Lucas wasn't her boyfriend anymore, so it didn't even matter if he knew. So why was this so hard?

"Hey Brooke…sorry I'm late, I had to pick up our History textbook" Zac said rushing over to the table. The poor guy looked so nervous, she felt bad for him.

"Its fine, I just got here too… Lucas had to get me un-lost walking back from history"

"Lucas… that was your guy friend I met?"

"Yep…" Brooke smiled trying to end it there, but she was guessing… since Lucas had had his arm around here ½ the time… it wasn't going to end there.

"You guys seem close"

"We are… not like that anymore but he's still one of my best friends"

"I figured you guys had a history, from the way he was looking at me" Zac laughed nervously. Poor guy was intimidated by Lucas. Brooke never thought she'd see the day…

"You have no idea…"

"That bad?"

"It's thicker than that history book right there… but that doesn't matter now. I'm playing the field" Brooke smiled taking off her jacket to reveal her fabulous low cut shirt.

"You do that…"

"You have no idea…we should do something tonight, you could show me some good bars, clubs, that sort of thing"

"How old are you?" Zac asked looking down at the table. This boy was so innocent! It almost reminded her of Lucas when she first met him.

"Does it matter?"

"I guess not… why don't I just take you out somewhere nice"

"Sorry… I don't really do the whole romance thing anymore, especially on first dates. Romance hurts… Clubs don't" Brooke smiled deciding to be open about the whole thing… this wasn't Lucas, this was Zac, she could play by her rules now.

"Compromise then? We can go somewhere like Chili's and then out to a few good party spots"

"Deal…"

"Pick you up at 8?" Zac asked, sounding a lot less nervous.

"Sure"

After walking around for what seemed like forever, Lucas finally gave up on trying to find the library. He wasn't sure he was ever going to learn his way around this campus…It was like a maze, and the sad thing was he was the only one who looked lost. Everyone else seemed to know exactly where they were going… or either hid the fact that they were lost really well… everyone except for Brooke that is.

"Hey… can you tell me how to get to the library?" Lucas turned around to see a tall blonde girl standing behind him. Well she wasn't that tall… but compared to tiny Brooke, she definitely seemed it.

"I actually have no idea…"

"Great… I've been walking around for like an hour looking"

"Same here…I'm Lucas" Lucas smiled.

"Megan… freshman too?"

"Yea…."

"It sucks doesn't it? I don't know anyone! All my friends are on the west coast and I, being the stupid person I was… decided to come here" Megan laughed nervously. She seemed nervous and lonely… but happy to talk to someone.

"I actually kind of wish most of my friends hadn't come here... I've got 3 and I don't know… its hard to meet people with them always around"

"Well you met me, we can try and find the library together"

"Or we could just give up and go get something to eat" Lucas sighed throwing his map in the closest trashcan. It was pointless to keep looking… he was bound to run into it at some point… plus he was starving.

"You know that sounds really good, you could introduce me to your friends, tell me some are girls! I need some girl friends"

"Brooke and Peyton"

"Great" Megan smiled waiting for Lucas to lead the way.

"The dorms this way"

"Your not just taking me there to like seduce me are you?"

"No…" Lucas laughed. Megan was sweet… a little on the strange side, but sweet none the less. Brooke would definitely hate her.

"Ok… just making sure, I just broke up with my boyfriend and I'm really… not ready"

"I totally understand, believe me…my girlfriend and I just broke up too"

"Long time?" Megan asked apparently not afraid to be forward about the subject.

"Yea… they're Brooke and Peyton"

"Well well… I have to say Lucas I had my doubts" Brooke smiled crossing her arms. Lucas could tell she was definitely pissed.

"Brooke…" Peyton whispered.

"Megan… this is Brooke"

"Nice to meet you! Wow I love that necklace! Where did you get it?" Megan asked seeing the silver chain and heart around Brooke's neck. She had completely forgotten she even had it on. Lucas had given it to her for their anniversary last month and she wore it religiously.

"Lucas gave it, um"

"It's from" Lucas started but neither were quite sure what exactly to say.

"Wait… you're the girlfriend"

"Ex-girlfriend and yea…"

"That's what I meant, sorry… it's good you 2 are still on good terms, my ex and I don't speak" Megan laughed. Brooke didn't find this at all funny. It was taking everything bit of will power she had not to hit this girl…

"So…I'm Peyton, ignore them"

"Hi"

"I should probably go change for my date tonight..." Brooke smiled walking away. Two could play at this game. If Lucas wanted to show off his new little chicky whore that was fine with her… she had Zac.

"I'll be right back"

"Lucas… please don't" Brooke said not bothering to stop walking… what did he think? She was going to want to talk about this? He knew her…

"Don't what?"

"Come try and talk…"

"Brooke" Lucas sighed catching up to her.

"It's harder than I thought it was going to be ok? What do you want me to say? I'm happy you met a nice girl? That I hope you 2 become great friends and start dating? You know how I feel about lying…"

"Then tell me how you really feel"

"You wont like it" Brooke said glaring at him. It was so much easier to be mad at him then upset. If she was mad, she could yell… and yelling always helped.

"When has that ever stopped you?"

"Fine! You want to know what I was hoping? That you wouldn't find anyone… that you'd realize that this whole thing we're doing is stupid and pointless and it hurts! You may be ok with this whole being friends thing… watching as I find other guys but I cant do that Lucas! Maybe I'm selfish, but I can't stand here and smile while you flirt with other girls ok? So please don't make me… We can't do this whole best of both worlds thing Luke, it's just not going to work"

"I know…" Lucas said sitting down on the steps. As much as he hated it she was right…This just wasn't going to work.

"So go… the whole point of this is so we don't hold each other back, and right now that's exactly what we're doing"

Lucas didn't know what to do other than let Brooke go. She was completely right. He waited until she was inside before he walked back to Peyton and Megan. The sad thing was… he and Brooke were this upset about each other's new "friends" and they weren't even anywhere close to dating them yet… at least he wasn't with Megan. He hadn't even known her 5 minutes.

"Hey… where's Brooke" Peyton asked hoping she and Lucas hadn't had too much of a falling out.

"Don't ask… you wanna come get some dinner with Megan and I?"

"Cant… I've gotta go get some stuff… you 2 go… have fun, I'll take care of Brooke" Peyton smiled reassuring him.

"Lets go then Lucas"


	3. Chapter 3

Happy New Year everyone! Thanks soo much for all the reviews! Here's a new chapter for the new year! Enjoy! I love you all!

-Jordan

"Brooke… you cant avoid him forever…" Peyton laughed as Brooke checked down the halls to make sure Lucas wasn't anywhere in site. She really wasn't in the mood to see him, and avoiding him for the past week had been working extremely well for her…

"Who says?"

"I think I remember you saying this after he cheated on you, and what happened?"

"I did… that is until he turned all nice" Brooke laughed walking as fast as she could to their room and shutting the door behind Peyton.

"Brooke…"

"Peyton, no… we broke up, its over with and you and I are so going to this party tonight!"

"What about Zac?" Peyton asked, hoping there was at least something good going on there. If not, Peyton was just ready to give up and hurt Brooke.

"I like Zac and all… but I have to keep my options open, I'd not tied down to just one guy anyone"

"Have you even kissed Zac yet?"

"No… but we're only been out once" Brooke lied. Not about the kissing, she hadn't kissed him yet, but they had definitely been out more than once, after all she had known him now for a week.

"Uh huh… and what did you and Lucas do on your first date?"

"I was 16"

"Exactly… seems like now you should have gotten even better" Peyton laughed throwing a pillow at Brooke. She was hopeless.

"So you're encouraging me to sleep with him"

"At least kiss him… you'll know by the kiss if you could ever date him date him"

"Fine… I'll make you a bet… I bet you I can find a guy to make out with before you can" Brooke giggled giving Peyton her devious smile. Maybe this would once and for all show Peyton she was still Brooke Davis and could have any guy she wanted, whenever she wanted.

"Your on… what are the rules?"

"You have to have Proof… and it has to be at the party tonight…"

"Fine B. Davis… your on!" Peyton laughed making Brooke shake on it.

"Now I say we go all out! Change out hair color! Great fabulous masks, and we're gonna need drinks… you should go straight and green tonight… me? I think I'll sport purple…"

"Does everyone go all out for these things?"

"Yes! You can't look like yourself…" Brooke whined playing with Peyton's curls. She has started sporting the curls again ever since they had gotten here.

Nathan and Lucas waited in the lunch line at the cafeteria. It was the one place Lucas knew he wouldn't see Brooke. She'd rather die before she ate anything that came from a cafeteria. Avoiding her wasn't has hard as he thought it was going to be, probably because she was avoiding him too… but at least that made things easier.

"So who are you going as?" Lucas asked handing Nathan the Masked Party flyer. He hadn't really put too much thought into what he kind of mask he was going to wear until today.

"I'm wearing my batman mask, you?"

"Zorro…. Black hair, bad fake tan…" Lucas laughed. It was going to be funny… besides all that were going to be there were drunk sad people he figured anyway… what did it matter what he looked like?

"You mean Felix?"

"Well he had his share of girls… so either way"

"So what's going on with you a Megan?" Nathan asked seeing Megan walk in with some on her friends, and give Lucas a cute, shy little wave.

"We're friends… I took her out the other night"

"Did you hook up?"

"No…" Lucas whispered, not believing Nathan had just asked him that, especially with Megan almost in earshot.

"Did you at least kiss her?"

"Its just… weird. I mean she's sweet and all… but I still can't imagine kissing anyone but Brooke"

"So you haven't kissed her?" Nathan asked making sure he was hearing this right.

"Not exactly…"

"Dude… you've gotta start kissing some girls! You think Brooke's sitting around worrying what kissing another guys like? She's probably had her tongue down half the campus's throats… and the other half, well they're girls"

"I haven't seen you kissing anyone… especially not Peyton" Lucas said, knowing that would hit a nerve, but at least it would get him off the subject of him and Brooke.

"Stop it with the me and Peyton thing… we're just friends"

"If you say so… I'm just saying, you're one to talk"

"Fine… tonight then… at this masked party, we find girls to kiss" Nathan said deciding he had had enough of this crap.

"How did we become this pathetic?"

"We fell in love in High school… but that's over now and we're gonna kiss some college girls… loser, buys the food for a month"

"You're on… what are the rules" Lucas asked figuring Nathan would probably loose. He hadn't kissed anyone since Haley, and knowing Nathan, he still wouldn't kiss anyone but Haley.

"It has to be tonight… and there has to be proof"

"You're on"

Brooke and Peyton browsed the masks at the Halloween store. This was harder than Brooke thought it was going to be, how was anyone supposed to look good in these things? Much less make out in them, then again hopefully by the time she had to make out with someone, she would be totally wasted… and probably wouldn't care what they looked like.

"Peyton… I'm going to look stupid in all of these" Brooke whined looking through all the masks. A chipmunk, elephants, wasn't there anything decent to wear?

"Brooke… this party isn't about what you look like on the outside… it's about the inside"

"Why can't I have both? Hott on the outside and well you know, good on the inside" Brooke whined louder, and then wished she hadn't… she knew what was coming now.

"You did have both"

"This isn't my fault Peyton! I basically begged for him back… and I don't beg guys!"

"I know… sorry, here… how about this one?" Peyton said changing the subject. She hadn't meant to jump down Brooke's throat like that, especially when it came to Lucas.

"A cat…"

"You're very catty Brooke"

"I like it… and for you…Mardi gras" Brooke smiled handing her a shiny Mardi Gras mask.

"I guess anything goes with green hair"

"So true… Hey! But what cat have you seen around with purple hair?"

"Yea… I think you should probably go jet black tonight" Peyton laughed imagining Brooke with purple hair…

"Good idea… I can wear a slinky black dress too!"

"Uh huh"

"See! I knew college was going to be fun…" Brooke squealed. Life without Lucas wasn't so bad after all… she could party without worry, and now she could even play without worry!

Nathan met up with Lucas at the costume store, and almost burst out laughing seeing Lucas standing there. If a fake tan had ever gone bad…it was definitely Lucas's. He just hoped Lucas knew that.

"Dude… that is the worst fake tan ever" Nathan laughed wishing he had his camera with him.

"It wears off in 36 hours"

"Thank god for small miracles"

"Seriously… and why do you get to go as batman?" Lucas asked looking through all of the masks on the rack. There was nothing decent… not unless he wanted to go as a chipmunk.

"Maybe I'll find a cat woman"

"Good luck with that one…"

"Lucas" A voice said from behind Lucas.

"Megan, hey"

"Wow…" Megan laughed noticing Lucas's fake tan.

"Long story, what's up?"

"I was just wondering if you were going to that party tonight… I take it you are?"

"How'd you guess?" Lucas asked rolling his eyes at Nathan who was laughing hysterically behind him.

"Great… then maybe we'll get each other, now I've got to go buy a mask… call me later?"

"Sure"

"Cool, Bye Nathan" Megan smiled, giving Nathan her shy little wave.

"She's definitely a lot nicer than Brooke"

"Brooke's nice"

"Yea… like Wow… nice ass nice" Nathan laughed, now he was just trying to piss Lucas off to get back at him for that comment he had made about him and Peyton earlier.

"Dude"

"Ok… Megan's like 'Stay at home mom, cute, bake cookies, fix school lunches, tuck the kids in at night, go to church, snuggle, nice' while Brooke's like 'Super Model pretty, every guys dream, good heart, outspoken, crazy fun on the outside, but really sweet and loving on the inside nice' ok Dude… I'm sorry but why did you break up with her again?"

"Can we not do this?" Lucas asked, really not in the mood to re-hash this for the millionth time with Nathan.

"I'm just saying… Brooke Davis can have my kids"

"Dude!"

"What! Can you imagine that… if you and Brooke got married you'd have like super hott, super smart, kids. While you and Megan would have like cute, genius kids… tough choice" Nathan laughed trying to picture his kids with Brooke, they'd be hott too.

"Brooke and I would have some damn hot kids…"

"Yea… but you knew Brooke as a teenager, imagine having to raise them, while I bet Megan was sweet and innocent, never got in trouble, good grades"

"Good point… I'm not sure the world will ever be ready for little Brooke's" Lucas laughed trying to imagine what her parents must of gone though, then again her parents weren't ever home and that had been the whole reason Brooke had been… well Brooke.

"See… did you ever think about that stuff when you were with Brooke? You want kids, but can you imagine Brooke with a baby? The first sign of getting fat, she'd go into a deep depression. I'm starting to think this was really a good thing for you guys. You can marry your Megan… and she can marry her, 50 year old lawyer or doctor"

"Then why do I still want her so bad?"

Peyton watched as Brooke totally defeated the purpose of this whole party. The point of these parties was not about looks, and here Brooke was in front of the mirror having to look perfect as usual. Then, she wouldn't be Brooke if she didn't care what she looked like. As Peyton waited for Brooke to finish she looked around at their bare dorm room. It really needed some art. It had been ok until Brooke had ripped down and put away anything that even slightly reminded her of Lucas in any way, shape, or form… and apparently that was pretty much anything and everything in the room. The one thing Peyton did notice was that Brooke hadn't taken off the necklace yet. She claimed it was because it was pretty and it had costs Lucas money… but Peyton knew Brooke better than that…

"So… you ready to get this over with" Peyton asked grabbing her purse from the bed.

"Yea… but you're gonna have to drive…"

"Why…"

"Because I may… or may not have had soma drink… or 2" Brooke giggled finishing up her lipstick.

"Brooke"

"Peyton… no"

"Come on… its just downstairs" Peyton laughed deciding to let Brooke have her fun tonight, most the people down there were probably completely wasted by now anyway.

"Yea… you might have to help me down the stairs"

"Brooke!"

"I'm in heels!" Brooke whined looking down at her fabulous shoes.

"Come on… and by the way, bet starts now"

From what Brooke could tell the party didn't look too bad. There looked to be some eligible guys… and she HAD to beat Peyton at this bet, just to prove that she was still Brooke Davis, and she could so make it without Lucas Scott. In fact! She could probably find 2 guys to make out with tonight if she really wanted too! And then afterwards, she could go find Zac and do him too!

"Ok… see anyone yet? Brooke… stop drinking" Peyton laughed taking Brooke's drink from her. Peyton wasn't sure how much she had had, but judging from the way she was walking… she guessed a little more than she should have.

"Peyton… if I am going to kiss one of these guys, I need to be a little drunk"

"Fine… what about him?"

"Batman?" Brooke asked raising her eyebrows at Peyton. She definitely wasn't the Batman kind of girl…

"You are cat woman sorta"

"I don't like batman…"

"Brooke…" Peyton laughed as Brooke took another drink.

"1 more drink"

"Brooke! You're starting to slur… come here"

"Peyton… Batman's scary… what about…" Brooke started but the room was spinning a little but now, so she couldn't exactly make out anyone.

"He has a friend… Zorro I think"

"What lame ass would dress up as Zorro?"

"Fine… I don't know why I'm trying to help you win anyway…" Peyton sighed helping Brooke across the room where 2 hott guys… well what Peyton guessed were hott, were sitting.

"Wait…"

"What?"

"I'm scared to walk…" Brooke giggled. This was fun… no she wasn't completely drunk off her ass like she used to get… but she had a nice buzz going. Besides, if Peyton thought she was drunker than she really was, maybe she'd layoff some.

"God…."

Nathan watched as "Cat woman" and the Alien as Nathan called her walked over to the couch and started flirting with some guys. There was just so much to choose from…How was he supposed to know who to make out with. Nathan was batman; so obviously, cat woman was the obvious choice. Lucas just needed to think like Felix, what would he go for? Lucas guessed probably someone pretty drunk, who he hoped wouldn't slap him when he went up to them and just started kissing.

"There's your cat woman…" Lucas laughed pointing to the girls across the room.

"She looks a little drunk, I don't think she'd even notice your fake tan… plus… she's totally hott from what I can tell. Alright… 2 months of groceries says you can't make out with her…"

"So… if I make out with her… and you watch, you buy the groceries for 2 months?"

"Yep…" Nathan laughed knowing it wasn't going to happen. That girl would take one look at Lucas and laugh…

"Your on"

Lucas walked over where the girls were sitting and pulled "catwoman" up off the couch. She came willingly and took his hands… and then the real shocker came, she kissed him first. He definitely hadn't expected that. And as it turned out, it wasn't as weird as he thought it was going to be. As they kissed she ran her fingers through his stiff black hair, then down his back… this was actually a lot easier than he remembered… maybe because he had had a few drinks, after all this was a college party. He thought about stopping after a minute or so… but after giving her a quick glance, he changed his mind.

"Damn… he's good" Nathan sighed shaking his head in disbelief.

"Tell me about it, is that hott or what?"

"Damn it… I'm out grocery's for 2 months… probably 3 since she kissed him first"

"Crap… wait, she cant win… come here" Peyton whined pulling Nathan in to kiss him, only about 5 seconds into the kiss did it hit both of them.

"Wait…"

"EW"

"Peyton!" Nathan gagged wiping his mouth.

"Nathan!"

"Gross"

"I think I'm gonna puke" Peyton whined rubbing her eyes…

"Wait"

"What?"

"You know that's Lucas right?" Nathan asked pointing to Brooke and Lucas… who by now were pretty hot and heavy.

"Oh God"

"And I'm guessing that's Brooke…"

"Uh oh… should we tell them?" Peyton asked almost laughing. This figured…

"Lucas is kinda drunk…"

"So's Brooke…"

"We could be terrible friends and let them go have sex" Nathan laughed watching as they made out. He was going to have to get a job to pay for groceries.

"Or we could be good friends, and let them have sex"

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe if they that one last night together, they can move on… either together or separately" Peyton said

"So true… wanna go get some coffee?"

"Sure… I'm gonna need something to get the Nathan spit out of my mouth… gross"

"You know you liked it" Nathan laughed winking at her.

"Kill me…"

As Brooke kissed her mystery man, she wanted so badly to take his mask off… after all they had already found their way to a bedroom and she really wanted to make sure he was what she thought, before she didn't something she was going to regret. As he kissed her she could feel her heart pounding against her chest. It was so dark she couldn't see anything but a small shadow of who she was kissing. She figured it was safe to take her mask off now, considering it was pitch black. She slid off her mask, and then his. She still couldn't make him out… but that was ok, at this point she didn't really care. Next she slid off his shirt, kissing him hard on the lips as he unzipped her dress. There wasn't any turning back now.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4! It seems like I just cant keep up with my writing lately... mostly because its hard to write when OTH has been gone for like... ever! haha but maybe that will all change Wednesday! So far I've written through Chapter 11... and I so love this story! Kaela andI have it all planned out... and I think you guys are really going to enjoy it! Thanks to all you guys for the great reviews! and to Kaela as always! Enjoy!

Brooke rolled over and looked at the alarm clock. 11:34, at least it was Saturday. Her head was killing her… it couldn't have been a hang over; I mean she had been drunk… but not DRUNK. She slightly remembered hitting it on the headboard she thought… ok maybe she had been DRUNK. It was about that time she looked down at her sheets, and realized they weren't her pink and purple satin sheets… these felt like they didn't even have a count. That's when her stomach dropped, and she remembered. Next came the risky part… rolling over.

"Damn it!" Brooke whined seeing Lucas beside her. She guessed it could have been worse, it wasn't after all Nathan or Mouth or Peyton beside her…

"Oh God"

"Good Job Lucas…"

"Me? I'm not the only one in the bed!" Lucas said pointing out the obvious. Brooke didn't look thrilled with his response… in fact she didn't look thrilled about any of this… not that he could blame her.

"Yea but I was drunk"

"No you weren't…"

"Well I was kinda… Wait, EW! Lucas" Brooke whined louder hitting him with a pillow. He had forgotten how violent Brooke was when she was pissed. He had been spending a lot of time with Megan and when she got mad… she cried unlike Brooke who liked to throw or hit.

"What?"

"You'd sleep with some random girl not knowing who she was!"

"Like you wouldn't… a guy I mean" Lucas said glaring at her. This pissed Brooke off even more! What was he thinking? Couldn't he tell she was the one upset here? The alarm clock in front of her was looking like it would be more and more fun to throw at his pretty little face.

"You better not have given me some STD"

"Like I've slept with anyone since you"

"How would I know…" Brooke asked raising her eyebrows at him. She had a point. In the past few weeks they had said 3 words to each other tops… 2 of them being Bite me.

"Same here"

"I can't believe I slept with you… Lucas!"

"What?" Lucas asked preparing for the worst.

"We just killed everything! We were doing so good!"

"By avoiding each other?"

"Yea" Brooke said calming down a little. This really sucked, she and Lucas weren't supposed to fight like this? They're fights always ended up with them making out… and it just didn't feel right this time knowing that wasn't going to happen.

"Because that's progress"

"Close your eyes while I get dressed"

"Because I've never seen you naked before…" Lucas sighed sarcastically. Brooke wasn't really in the mood for sarcastic…

"Would you like me to watch you get dressed?"

"We'll take turns"

"I can't believe you'd just go off and sleep with some random girl Lucas!" Brooke said after they were both dressed. This was seriously getting to her… Lucas wasn't supposed to go out and sleep with girls! He was Lucas… the guy whose virginity SHE stole, therefore making him like her property…

"Why are you so upset about this?"

"Because I couldn't just sleep with some random guy! Especially now"

"Like you didn't?" Lucas asked pointing out the situation they were in right now.

"I'm me! You're supposed to be different"

"Fine… I'm only gonna tell you this because I know it will make you feel like crap for saying that"

"Uh huh… sure, try me" Brooke said raising one eyebrow at him

"I knew it was you"

"How?"

"You didn't take off the necklace…" Lucas said pointing to her neck. Brooke didn't know whether to be pissed that he would sleep with her knowing good and well the situation… or feel totally relieved that he wouldn't just go out and sleep with some random girl.

"Right…"

"So I didn't sleep with some random girl Brooke, but you know that doesn't say a lot for you since you did sleep with me"

"Damn it, fine… I may… or may not have seen you buying your mask" Brooke sighed looking down at the bed as she told him. For a second they both laughed and everything felt better…

"Cheater"

"God I am… Zac"

"I was supposed to find Megan last night" Lucas said looking at the clock. Now they both felt like crap…

"I guess I should go"

"Yea… hey you mind not telling Nathan I knew it was you?"

"Same with Peyton…" Brooke smiled. She really didn't want to leave, but she had too. They had to move on… or it was just going to be this hard everytime.

"Sure…"

"Bye Luke"

Brooke walked back to her and Peyton's room slowly, she had to think of what to tell Peyton about last night. Of course she was going to ask who it was… how it was, all that fun stuff and Brooke had to be ready to lie. Lie about sleeping with Lucas, that was a first… usually she told just about anyone who would listen. She never thought she'd see the day where she regretted sleeping with him either.

"Hey P. Sawyer… and N. Scott" Brooke said surprised to see Nathan in her bed. How gross was that?

"Yea, Lucas had someone in my room last night"

"Right…"

"I'm gonna go, I had fun last night Peyton" Nathan said giving her a quick hug and getting out of there before Brooke started asking a bunch of gross questions, and describing her night in detail.

"Me too…"

"P. Sawyer!" Brooke shrieked after Nathan was gone.

"So?"

"So What?"

"How was it?" Peyton asked totally changing the subject. There was nothing to talk about when it came to her and Nathan.

"You mean how was he?"

"Yes! I want details… name, how hott he was, that sort of thing"

"Right… his name was, um… Jimmy" Brooke smiled stealing the name off of Peyton's Jimmy Eat World shirt. It was all she could come up with.

"Really?"

"Uh huh… and he was like Brad Pitt, hott I guess"

"Really?" Peyton asked again… Brooke didn't like t eh way this was heading.

"Yep"

"Zorro wasn't he?"

"Uh huh…" Brooke said not looking her straight in the face. Peyton could always tell when she was lying…

"You know… that's so funny, Nathan said Lucas was Zorro"

"Really? Wow…"

"Yea…so did sleeping with Lucas make you want him back?" Peyton asked without giving Brooke a chance to think the question over

"So much"

"Figured"

"Hey!" Brooke gasped once she had figured out what Peyton had done.

"Nathan and I knew the whole time"

"That was mean… MEAN P. Sawyer…"

"You guys needed it"

Nathan walked through the building to his and Lucas's hallway. He wasn't really ready to go back yet. As much fun as it was going to be to tell Lucas he knew that it was Brooke, he wasn't ready to answer the questions about what he had done the night before. Not that he had done anything… actually all he had done was talked. Him and Peyton all night, about everything. They hadn't done that in a long time, in fact he wasn't sure they had ever done that. It was always him and Haley's thing. As soon as he thought the name Haley it was like a spell. There she was, sitting in front of his door…

"Haley?" Nathan asked drawing her attention away from the floors to him.

"Nathan…"

"What are you doing here?"

"I um, I missed you guys I guess. I knocked but I think Lucas is in the shower" Haley smiled hugging Nathan tight.

"Yea… washing off this really bad spray on tan"

"Lucas and Tan? Wow…"

"Yea… its been pretty crazy around here" Nathan laughed forgetting Haley hadn't been here for all the drama.

"You wanna go get some breakfast or something? You can fill me in"

"Um… sure, what are you in the mood for?"

"What am I always in the mood for?" Haley asked taking his hand as they walked down the hall.

"Waffles…"

After Lucas got out of the shower and dressed, there was a knock at the door. Probably Brooke, since she had left her bra hanging from his lamp, and her earrings… which he had accidentally rolled over on and gotten stabbed. He was glad she was back… maybe now they could talk some more, avoiding each other wasn't going to work anymore, and even if it did he didn't like doing it. She had become his best friend and being away from her was more painful than being just her friend. Which was exactly what he was going to tell her when he answered the door.

"Hey Lucas!" Megan smiled from the doorway. Definitely not what Lucas had expected, especially since he was holding Brooke's bra in his hand.

"Ah… Megan"

"What's that?"

"Nathan… had a girl in here last night, Peyton actually… she forgot her stuff" Lucas said trying to think of anything that would make since to explain. There wasn't really any point in telling Megan… it wasn't like Brooke was going to tell Zac.

"Wow… Peyton wears a 32 DD? I always thought she was flat"

"She stuffed for last night"

"Gotcha… so I looked for you last night" Megan smiled shyly. She was the complete opposite of Brooke. By now Brooke would have been kissing him or sitting in his lap telling him some random story about her day. Megan was sweet, and luckily wanted to take things slower than faster.

"Yea, me too"

"There were so many people there though"

"Tell me about it" Lucas sighed thankful for that little blessing. At least then he had an excuse for not finding her.

"Luke… ah, Megan" Brooke stuttered from the doorway.

"Hi Brooke…" Megan smiled sweetly. Brooke wanted to punch her face in.

"I just came to get"

"Peyton's bra and earrings?" Lucas asked, giving her this begging look.

"Yea…"

"Isn't Nathan married though or divorced? Or something"

"He's always been a player…" Lucas laughed not taking his eyes off Brooke.

"Ok… I'll talk to you later Luke"

"Bye"

"So you 2 are on better terms" Megan smiled, like it was a good thing. Sometimes Lucas really wasn't sure about this girl…

"Yea"

"So… you wanna go get some breakfast or what?"

"Definitely"

Brooke watched in utter disgust as Lucas kissed Megan. It was one thing for Karma to stick a knife in her heart with last night, but to twist the knife too? She hadn't been that mean the past couple years. Who knew a small kiss on the lips could make her feel so cruddy. So cruddy that she totally forgot she was sitting there with Zac and Peyton.

"Brooke…" Peyton whispered kicking her from under the table

"Yea?"

"You ok?"

"Fine… fine…" Brooke smiled remembering Zac was sitting right beside her.

"You look a little, pre occupied"

"What?"

"See…" Zac laughed kissing her. Brooke wanted to gag… Zac was nice and all… and really hott. But she didn't want Lucas to see her kissing him…it was just too weird.

"No… I'm just thinking"

"About what?"

"Just… life, us, that sort of thing" Brooke said, figuring the 'us' should win her some points with Zac. Not that she needed any… he was already like a puppy following her around all the time.

"Not Lucas?"

"Ew no… why would I think about him?"

"Because you dated him for how long?" Zac laughed

"Not that long actually…it was just one of those things where we spent a lot of time pining over each other, before we actually got together"

"They made the people around them want to slit their wrists"

"Well maybe if someone hadn't stolen him from me in the first place, I wouldn't have had the commitment issues" Brooke smiled sarcastically at Peyton, who was sticking her tongue out at her.

"If you don't mind me asking… why'd you 2 break up anyway?"

"Which time?"

"This one?" Zac asked unsure what that exactly meant.

"His mo- we felt like we needed to be apart for college, try life without each other for a while…"

"So basically I'm the guy who you're with until you 2 realize you cant live without the other one and get back together"

"No… Zac, its not like that, I mean look. He's with Megan… maybe this all just means Lucas and I needed to move on" Brooke lied. Now she felt bad… Poor Zac was exactly right… I mean she planned on spending the rest of her life with Lucas, whether Karen liked it or not… right now she was just playing by his rules.

"If you say so, I've gotta get going… call me later?"

"Of course…"

"Nice save" Peyton laughed once Zac was gone

"People that are meant to be together always find their way in the end, and if Lucas and I can find out way through this…we'll be fine"

"I'll agree with you there"

"So you wanna tell me what's going on with you and Nathan?" Brooke asked changing the subject. This whole her, Lucas, Zac and Megan 4-some was making her nauseous.

"Nothing…"

"Peyton"

"It doesn't matter Brooke, Even if there was something, I'd just be Nathan's Zac or Megan anyway… until he and Haley work things out" Peyton sighed looking up from her book.

"God… life would be so much easier if we were lesbians"

"Tell me about it"

Nathan and Haley sat at the Waffle house quietly. Nathan had never imagined it could be this awkward with After all she was Haley… and they were them. Things weren't supposed to be this hard. He watched Haley eat for a minute and then decided either they talk… or he left.

"Why are you really here Hales?" Nathan finally asked getting annoyed with her chewing.

"I met someone"

"Its not Chris Keller is it?"

"No… and I'm not sure if I even like him… but I wanted you to know" Haley said dropping her fork. Nathan could tell this upset her, it didn't make him feel that great either.

"Why?"

"Because no matter what we are Nathan, you're still my Nathan… and I want us to still talk"

"Yea… me too" Nathan sighed not looking up at her.

"His name is Andrew… and its not like I like one of us you know? I mean its one thing if I started liking Lucas… or you started liking Peyton. He's knew… and I just want to see where it could go"

"You should get to do that Hales…"

"You aren't mad?" Haley asked worried he was lying to her about this whole thing. He didn't seem right, then she hadn't seen him in weeks… so there was no telling what she didn't know.

"We're not married anymore, and we aren't Brooke and Lucas…"

"That's true… what's up with them anyway"

"They're both in denial" Nathan laughed, thinking about how their faces must of looked when they woke up realizing they slept together last night.

"Denial's fun while it lasts…"

"I know…"

"So you're ok with this?" Haley asked, changing back to her serious tone.

"Definitely…This is your college life Haley and I don't want you to not do stuff because of me, I mean isn't that why we ended the marriage in the first place?"

"Yea…"

"So go have your fun ok?" Nathan said taking her hand to show her it was ok. He didn't want too, but it was the only way she was going to be able to enjoy these next 4 years.

"Ok…"

"Real fun… not like Brooke and Lucas's pining party fun"

"I promise…"


	5. Chapter 5

Hey guys! SOO sorry its taken sooo long! My friend Zoe is here from California and we have been going non-stop… not to mention we've been on set the past 3 days… so I completely forgot about updating… but at least OTH came back! Haha

Thanks for ALL the reviews! I love you guys so much! Enjoy!

The rest of the semester went by pretty fast for Brooke. Between classes, trying to convince Zac that she actually did like him… and hanging with Lucas, Peyton and Nathan…She didn't have time for much else. She and Lucas were doing well… they hung out and studied… that sort of thing. It was still hard for Brooke to see him with Megan, but a lot easier than not being friends with him at all. She actually found it fun now to do little things to annoy Megan. Nothing obvious of course, just subtle things that Lucas, being a guy didn't notice… but drive Megan up the wall. One of those things was never knocking.

"Hey Ho" Brooke said bursting into Lucas's dorm room. It was insanely clean… Brooke guessed Megan had definitely had her way with the room, and hoped so much that she had at least found 1 or 2 pictures of her and Lucas together.

"Can guys really be called Ho's?"

"Ok sorry… Manwhore"

"Hi Brooke" Megan smiled walking out of the bathroom with a basket of cleaning supplies. Brooke was doing everything in her power not to laugh; here this girl was 18 and already a housewife.

"Megan… I didn't see you in there"

"Well maybe if you had knocked…"

"Yea… I don't do that" Brooke said plopping down on Lucas's bed. At least she had gotten him some new sheets, then it hit her… new sheets meant she might be staying over. Staying over wasn't good…after all she wasn't sleeping with Zac, and she sure as hell was going to be the first one to have sex.

"You like the new sheets?"

"You tell me"

"I don't believe in sex before marriage Brooke, just not my thing ok?" Megan said getting very defensive. This was funny… poor thing was dating a Scott and didn't believe in sex before marriage. Brooke just wondered if Lucas had told her the story of how he came to be yet.

"I just asked if you like them…"

"Whatcha need Brooke?"

"You ok Luke? You don't look so good…" Brooke said putting her hand on his forehead. He was pale and that always made her nervous… she wondered if he had even told Megan about his HCM.

"I'm Fine…"

"If you say so… I need to borrow your guyness for a minute"

"My Guyness" Lucas laughed rolling his eyes at her. She looked so funny laying there with her feet propped up on Megan's nicely folded clothes drinking her star bucks. Although Megan did look kinda pissed

"That is why I dated you, being a guy and all"

"What can I do?"

"Its Zac's birthday" Brooke sighed. She had been dreading this for weeks. Zac was getting really serious and Brooke wasn't ready to go there yet. Anywhere for that matter… she was still content with a kiss on the cheek and hand holding…

"Ah…"

"Yea and I don't want to get him anything that says 'Hey… I'm in love with you' but I also don't want to get him anything that says 'we're just friends'"

"So how am I helping you?" Lucas asked totally confused and a little uncomfortable. He hated Zac… so much. Every time he saw him with Brooke he really just wanted to punch his face in.

"You're a guy… what did Megan get you for your birthday?"

"I'm right here…" Megan laughed, a very pissed off laugh. The kind Brooke always did when she was REALLY mad.

"Sorry… what did you get Lucas for his birthday?"

"I'm not sure that's any of your business"

"See? Now that's why I asked Lucas first… Lucas?" Brooke asked, knowing good and well Lucas would tell her. He told her everything… even things about Megan that would probably cause them to break up if Megan knew she knew.

"A watch"

"Lucas!"

"A watch?" Brooke asked. She hadn't thought about that… after all it was just a watch. More sentimental than a shirt or a tie… but it wasn't like she was giving him a diamond ring or something

"Is this really appropriate? I mean… you 2 talking about this?"

"Yea…"

"Fine, then Brooke what did you get Lucas for his birthday" Megan asked growing red in the face. Brooke didn't understand why… Lucas delt with Megan's guy friends all the time and never asked creepy questions.

"This book I found… I read the inside and it was totally him"

"She's the one who gave you that book! The one you've been reading all the time"

"See! I knew it was totally you!" Brooke said excitedly. Of course she knew it was him… she'd looked everywhere for that damn book for 3 weeks before she had finally found it and paid an un-godly amount for it.

"Lucas, we have been dating for 2 months now and I would like to think we could not lie to each other about these things"

"Right… ok well you 2 have fun with that, and good luck Megan, telling the truth isn't exactly a strong point for Lucas sometimes…"

Brooke pranced out of the dorm room feeling pretty good about how that little meeting had gone… In fact, the whole way back to her room she was feeling great, She knew what to get Zac, Lucas and Megan were probably fighting and she had the whole next hour to herself.

"Hey… where were you?" Zac asked looking pretty pissed off at Brooke. Her happy mood was definitely gone now.

"Talking to Lucas…I thought we weren't meeting for another hour"

"You said 12"

"Is it 12 already?" Brooke asked looking down at her watch less wrist. Maybe it wasn't Zac who needed the watch after all.

"Yea"

"Ok then… lets go study I guess"

"I really hate Literature…" Zac said flipping open his book. The more Brooke got to know this guy, the more they had in common. They liked the same things, hated the same things… maybe that was the problem with the whole relationship. They never fought.

"Believe me… me too, its ok though in high school Lucas gave me this book full of stuff to help me out…"

"Here, that fell out. To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world."

"Um…Its nothing" Brooke said snatching the piece of paper from Zac. She felt really bad he had found it… now there were going to be a million questions and she really wasn't in the mood to answer any of them.

"Brooke, I thought we were going to work on telling each other stuff"

"Fine… Lucas gave it to me last Christmas after my parents didn't want me to come home. He said I was his world and that's all that mattered, and whenever I felt as crappy as I did right then to look at that and remember…"

"Remember?"

"How much he loved me, Zac I cant do this right now ok?" Brooke asked folding up the piece of paper and putting it in her drawer. So much for moving on… she felt like driving off a cliff right now.

"You know I had a girlfriend in high school who I loved a lot… her name was Alicia"

"You guys broke up?"

"No, she was killed in a car accident 2 weeks before graduation" Zac said quietly, not looking Brooke in the eyes. Brooke's heart sank. That had to be one of the worst things she had ever heard.

"I'm sorry"

"It was really hard, I loved her so much. She always said we were so opposite even our names were at opposite ends of the alphabet. I thought if I came here and met someone else I could get over her… Then I met you and it was easy for me to lie to myself about everything… because you were too. But we cant do that anymore"

"Why?" Brooke asked not liking where this was going.

"Because I see the look you get when you see Lucas, or when someone mentions him. That's the same look Alicia used to get around me, and Brooke if you have that you should fight for it. I hate to loose you but I'd also hate to have what Alicia and I had destroyed for someone else, you were never going to love me like you do Lucas, and I wont ever love anyone like I did Alicia… this way at least we're out of denial"

"I'm sorry…"

"It's ok… just get him back" Zac smiled. Brooke didn't know how… she wasn't sure she'd ever be able to smile again if something like that had happened to Lucas.

"He's with the little whore of cleanliness"

"I haven't known you that long Brooke Davis, but I'm guessing you don't have a problem with breaking people up"

"Usually no… but in this case, I cant. He's got to figure it out for himself that we're meant to be together… you and I, we can still be friends right?" Brooke asked. This was the first time she had actually meant what she was saying to Zac.

"Of course"

Peyton walked down the hall towards Lucas and Nathan's dorm. It was 1:00 so she hoped they were both in class, that way she could have some time to study away from Brooke's drama. The guy's apartment was always so much quieter, not to mention bigger and more comfortable… it just made studying that much easier. Of course, Peyton had forgotten 1 little thing. Megan.

"Hey Peyton!" Megan said scaring the living daylights out of Peyton. That girl never left!

"Megan… what are you?"

"I just thought I'd wait for Lucas, get some stuff done, that sort of thing"

"Right…" Peyton sighed trying to decide if she wanted to stay or leave… Brooke or Megan, this was definitely a tough one.

"Brooke's not with you is she?"

"No… she's with Zac"

"Right, maybe she'll stay there for a while" Megan said gritting her teeth. Peyton could tell Brooke had really been getting on Megan's last nerve lately.

"Is she giving you a hard time?"

"You could say that… and Lucas is totally oblivious to it all! I think Brooke could actually kill me, and he'd defend her"

"They've loved each other for a long time" Was all Peyton could think to say. That's just how it was with them… She actually felt bad for Megan and Zac, the way Brooke and Lucas were using them, even if they weren't meaning too.

"They dated what? Like a year?"

"Did you ever have one of those relationships, where it was so short… but in that little bit of time you loved that person more then you ever thought you could love someone?"

"No… I mean I had a boyfriend I loved and all but" Megan started but Peyton broke in. It was time this girl had a serious reality check when it came to the drama and relationships that was Tree Hill.

"I had this guy… Jake. We only really actually dated for about a month, and I spent about a year and a half waiting for him… he never came back. But when I look back on my love life in high school. The one person I could have spent my life with… I don't think about Nathan who I dated for 2 years, or Lucas… we had this whole screwed up thing going on… I see Jake. My Jake and Jenny… and I know in my heart that no matter who I am with from now on, they'll never compare. It's the same with Nathan and Haley… they can move on as much as they want, but whenever they look back on their lives and think about their one true love, they'll always see each other"

"Peyton… What does this have to do with Lucas and I?"

"I'm just saying, for Lucas… its always going to be Brooke. Not many guys will walk around at 17 and admit they've found the one for them… but he did. It didn't matter how much I wanted him… or Rachel or anyone… it was Brooke. And it's the same for her" Peyton said opening her history book. She hoped maybe that would give Megan some incite on how all of this was going to end.

"You know how many high school couples actually get married after high school? 1 in 25. In that 1 in 25… only 1/3 of them will make it to their 5th anniversary. People change, feelings change. People grow up. Maybe its just time all of you move on from your twisted little triangles you have going on. Maybe you'd all be a lot happier."

"I'm just saying, if you're with Lucas… friend, girlfriend, whatever… just be prepared to come second every time."

"I just don't get it… what does she have that I don't? What makes her so special?" Megan asked truly confused.

"She's got his heart Megan, to be as different as the 2 of them are, they understand each other better than anyone else…"

"I understand him too…"

"Maybe…" Peyton started just as Lucas opened the door. He looked shocked to see both of them standing there.

"Hey… Peyton?"

"Just came to get some piece and quiet… away from Brooke and Zac"

"Fighting?" Lucas asked. He felt bad for hoping they were, but he couldn't help it…

"Nope… studying or something. Whatever it was there was loud talking"

"Ok?"

"You ok Luke? You don't look so hot…" Peyton said noticing how pale he looked

"Thanks Peyton…"

"I'm just saying, shouldn't you be in class?"

"I had a doctors appointment" Lucas sighed reluctantly. He hadn't wanted to get into this them, hints why he hadn't told anyone.

"You ok?"

"Yea…its nothing"

"Nothing as in actually nothing? Or nothing as in that's what you want me to tell a certain person who is going to flip out if she finds out something might be wrong?" Peyton asked giving Lucas the look.

"Both?"

"Fine…"

"What are we talking about?" Megan asked totally confused. They had both forgotten she was even in the room anymore.

"Nothing"

"You haven't told her?"

"There's nothing to tell ok?" Lucas said giving Peyton his look. This wasn't working out at all like it was supposed to.

"If there's nothing wrong then why wont you tell her?"

"And people wondered why we didn't work as a couple"

"Right… because you're an ass, Megan Lucas has a heart condition called HCM" Peyton smiled sarcastically giving Lucas the finger. Sometimes she wondered how Brooke could stand him… or how he could stand her.

"Peyton"

"Are you ok?"

"Fine…Peyton just don't tell Brooke I had to go to the doctor ok?" Lucas asked, resorting to begging. He didn't care if Peyton was mad at him… she usually was. But he really didn't want to get into this with Brooke right now.

"If you tell me why"

"Just chest pains, stress… I played basketball last week ok?"

"Good job…" Peyton laughed in disbelief.

"Why does it matter if Brooke knows?" Megan asked, obviously still confused

"Because Brooke was the last one to find out he had the disease in the first place, and she almost killed him"

"That bitch"

"She almost killed him because it almost killed her. She cried for a week, and she gets a little freaked whenever he has to go to the doctor or anything…" Peyton finished.

"Oh"

"I just don't want her to have to deal with the stress right now" Lucas said, again resorting to begging.

"Whatever… I've gotta go study"

"Peyton…"

"Chill… I wont say anything"

Peyton left just in time for Brooke to come bouncing in with her history book, obviously looking for Peyton. Today definitely wasn't his day… there was no telling what Megan was going to say to Brooke, but from the look on her face she definitely wasn't going to keep quiet. Why couldn't he for once just find a quiet laid-back girl?

"Don't you have anything better to do than stalk my boyfriend" Megan asked not even giving Brooke a chance to speak.

"Um yea… hints why I am looking for Peyton"

"Your girlfriend?"

"Why yes! Damn… you've figured it out" Brooke said sarcastically. This girl was so lame… Brooke had better comebacks in middle school.

"She just left"

"Luke, you ok?"

"Fine…" Lucas lied. He was fine… as in he would be if he took the new meds. She really didn't need to know the details.

"Did he always lie to you like this?" Megan asked seeing the perfect opportunity to put some nice tension between them.

"What?"

"Megan…" Lucas sighed.

"He's not fine… he just got back from the doctor"

"What?"

"Unless chest pains are 'fine' in your book" Megan said glaring at Brooke. For a split second she felt bad, the look on Brooke's face went from ok to completely worried and upset in a matter of seconds

"What did they say?"

"That I was fine"

"Lucas" Megan said loudly. She wasn't going to let him get away with this.

"Just less stress… that sort of thing"

"So you weren't even going to tell me? You were just going to lie?"

"You don't tell me everything" Lucas said trying his best think of what to sat next. Brooke was right, he should have told her… but it didn't matter. Even if he had they would still be having a fight about it.

"When have I not told you something this important?"

"Brooke"

"Other than that damn pregnancy scare when I was 16! And you deserved it" Brooke said, always forgetting that little detail.

"This isn't that important"

"Fine… you know what? How sad is it that this is the first real conversation we have had in weeks? And I don't really care to have another one with you…"

"Is it just me or did she totally over-react to that?" Megan said after Brooke had slammed the door.

"She wouldn't have if you hadn't told her"

"Don't turn this around on me… this was all you. I'm going home"


	6. Chapter 6

Hey guys! I swear one of these days I'm going to get one of these chapters up in less than I week! But thank you all for dealing with my slowness… hahaha I love you guys! Enjoy this chapter! Thanks to Kaela as always!

Lucas sat on the edge of his bed thinking about what had just happened. Peyton was pissed at him, Megan was pissed at him, and Brooke was pissed at him. It sucked, but maybe now he'd at least have some time to rest like the doctor had said, since he wasn't exactly following the no stress rule. He could feel his chest tighten, then loosen… tighten to the point where he thought he was going to pass out, then loosen up again. It seemed like every time this happened it got worse and worse… it had been going on for months now… since he had broken up with Brooke. At first, just the occasional streak of pain… then there'd be nothing for days, then it started coming more frequently to the point now it was happening every 5 minutes or so. He tried not to worry, the doctor had said it was common… but common or not, it still hurt like hell.

Nathan walked with Peyton up towards the dorm, telling her all about his newest Haley drama. She was seeing someone. He hadn't met him yet… but from the sounds of things he was nice… smart, corky… Haley's perfect type. And of course Nathan hated him. It did make him feel better to talk to Peyton. She was such a good listener these days, he guessed it was from watching all the people have to listen to her over the past few years. He was just glad to have her around…She wasn't like Lucas, who was critical of everything he did, or Brooke… who pretty much had no idea what was going on in his life. And she definitely wasn't Haley… which was exactly what he needed right now. She was just Peyton. Whatever that meant, and at this point he didn't care.

"Do we really want to go back now?" Peyton asked dreading going back in the room. Brooke and Megan had probably killed each other by now…

"What do you mean?"

"I'm just saying… if we go in there, we're going to get stuck in the Brooke/Megan cat fight of the century… worse than Brooke/Rachel if that's possible"

"Any chance they'll both take their shirts off and start making out?" Nathan asked stopping before opening the door. The look on Peyton's face was priceless.

"Um… probably not, but if one of them thinks there's a chance it will get them Lucas, there's always a chance I guess"

"We're going in"

"You're such a… Lucas!" Peyton shrieked catching Nathan off guard. He saw himself as a lot of things, but Lucas definitely wasn't one of them.

"Lucas?"

"No Nathan… Lucas!"

"Damn it… what, did they try and kill him?" Nathan asked seeing Lucas on the floor. He wasn't moving… and was completely pale.

"No… it's his heart, call someone, Lucas… can you hear me?"

"He's out cold… but he's breathing"

"Nathan!" Peyton cried throwing him her phone. Why did it have to be her to find him? She wasn't good in a crisis! She'd probably pass out herself, Brooke was always the one who handled these things, although she was pretty sure Brooke wouldn't have taken this particular crisis any better than she was.

"Right…"

"Lucas… come on…"

"Is he alert?" Nathan asked following the instructions of the 911 operators. They were asking him so many questions.

"Does he look it to you?"

"No… Ok they want to know if he's breathing"

"His chest is moving, tell them he has HCM!" Peyton yelled. Apparently Nathan wasn't good in a crisis either.

"He's got HCM"

"Come on Lucas, you cant do this before you knock Brooke up once and for all ok?" Peyton asked hoping the pure shock value from that line itself would wake Lucas up, something… anything!

"They're on they're way"

"What now?"

"We wait"

Brooke sat outside her dorm room messing with her hair. The guilt had hit her about half way back, and now she couldn't figure out what to do. Yes, she had totally over reacted… but the way she saw it, she had every right. Lucas knew how she felt about lying, and he also knew how she felt about him… and him lying about something that that meant 1 of 2 things… It was more serious than he was letting on, or he was just an ass. Ok, so maybe both were true… either way she figured she should probably go back and talk to him, make sure he was really ok. But she'd at least wait until later tonight when she knew Megan was nowhere around to screw things up as usual. Right now… she needed some serious stress relief… like shopping. And since Peyton was with Nathan doing whatever they did all the time, and she wasn't exactly speaking to Lucas yet. That left Haley, of course she wasn't the most fun to shop with… but at least it was someone. Maybe she'd make it fun and surprise her at Yale. She hadn't seen the place yet, but she had heard that the shopping wasn't all that terrible.

Peyton and Nathan waited in the ER. They'd been there for what seemed like hours. Peyton had called everyone she could think of… Karen, who was on her way. Megan, who sadly was also on her way… and Brooke who she couldn't get in touch with for the life of her. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. Part of her thought Lucas needed Brooke there, the other part knew Brooke didn't need to see Lucas like this… with tubes and completely out of it. It might give her a heart attack.

"I feel like we should be doing something" Peyton sighed. She was getting antsy… just sitting there felt wrong, like they were waiting for the grim reaper or something.

"You called his mom right?"

"Yea, she's on a plane right now"

"And you DIDN'T call Dan right?" Nathan asked, double-checking that Peyton hadn't gone too phone crazy.

"Right"

"Brooke?"

"She's not answering… but I called Megan" Peyton said, then started to wonder why she'd done that. It made her feel so much better calling people, like she was helping… that she just kept calling.

"Why?"

"I don't know… I panicked?"

"I don't like that Megan chick" Nathan finally said. In fact he kind of hated her. She was the Haley on speed. Regular Haley was good… Psycho Megan was like crazy clean over protective Haley times 100.

"How come?"

"I mean at least Brooke was fun, sure she got Lucas into some trouble sometimes… but so what? At least they were happy… now they just…"

"Look like they want to shoot up and die?" Peyton asked remembering Brooke's favorite saying.

"Yea… you don't think he?"

"No… god no! Nathan!"

"I'm just saying… love can make you do some stupid things, like I don't know… my car accident" Nathan said giving Peyton that look. He hadn't ever admitted to anyone before that that's what the accident had been about. At least not until now…

"It's his heart Nathan"

"Are either of you family?" A doctor asked walking up to Nathan and Peyton carrying a chart.

"Friends… his moms on the way, how is he?"

"Stable, with a change of medication he should be fine in a week or so, but since it is his heart we are going to keep him here for a few days, just to be sure"

"Can we see him?" Nathan asked

"He's in intensive care right now, which means family only… but once he's out"

Brooke skipped through Haley's dorm. It was so much nicer than hers it made her sick! Her teachers always said she should get good grades… in the long run it would be worth it. They seemed to be right. Yale was nice, all the guys were hott, rich and smart… She'd definitely been wrong about Yale. When she finally found Haley's dorm, she knocked 3 quick times… and opened the door without waiting for a response. After all it was Haley… at least that's what she thought until she saw what she had walked in on.

"Haley!" Brooke shrieked covering her eyes. This had to be the grossest thing she had ever seen… she wanted more than anything to get out of the room, but that meant taking her hands off her eyes and seeing the grossness again…

"Brooke!"

"Ew…"

"Whose that?" Haley's mystery man asked nervously.

"My friend Brooke"

"I'm gonna go…"

"Brooke… wait" Haley said throwing on her bathrobe to chase after Brooke.

"Come find me when you're a little more… I don't know dressed?"

"Is she going to tell anyone?"

"Give me a second" Haley sighed shutting the door behind her.

"So… I can call you tutor slut now right?"

"Brooke"

"Haley! He's like old!" Brooke whispered

"He's not old Brooke, he's 28"

"That's old! Why is he still in college at 28?"

"He's not…" Haley said not looking Brooke in the eyes. Brookek couldn't believe this. Haley James Scott James whoever she was now… with a teacher!

"Your teacher?"

"Sort of"

"EW!" Brooke whined trying to get the disturbing images out of her head.

"Brooke… come on, its not like you haven't done equally as…interesting things"

"Name 1!"

"Chris Keller" Haley shot back. This wasn't nearly as bad as Brooke and Chris.

"I was drunk! You're not!"

"Felix!"

"I was… horny! Haley!" Brooke whined still trying to comprehend all of this.

"Brooke…"

"Does Nathan know?"

"He knows I'm seeing someone…but he can't know he's a teacher, Brooke he'd freak out! Probably get me kicked out and Jackson fired, no one can know Brooke!" Haley was almost crying now. Brooke didn't know what to do, help Haley out and not tell Nathan? Or basically lie to everyone for Haley.

"What happened to being in love? Being married? Your morals?"

"So I have to have morals and you don't? How many guys have you slept with since you broke up with Lucas?"

"One…" Brooke started but Haley broke in.

"See?"

"That one being Lucas! Are you in love with him?"

"I do love him" Haley whispered, again not looking Brooke in the eyes.

"That's not what I asked…"

"Am I in love with him like I was Nathan? No…but that's not the point, I could be with more time, is that your phone?"

"Its Peyton…"

Karen rushed into the hospital and found where Nathan and Peyton were sitting with another girl. None of them were crying or looked too incredibly upset, just tired… so she guessed that was a good sign. There was no sign of Brooke or Haley anywhere, another good sign she guessed. If neither of them were there it couldn't be but so bad.

"Karen…" Peyton smiled hugging Karen. She looked so worried, Peyton could only imagine what her flight must have been like… worrying and not knowing anything.

"How is he?"

"He's ok… we haven't seen him, he's in intensive care right now so family only but the doctors said he's going to be fine"

"Thank god…" Karen sighed giving Peyton another hug.

"I'm Megan… Lucas's girlfriend"

"Hi…"

"I'll take you to his room… I scoped it out when I was going to the bathroom. They just wont let me in" Megan smiled, dragging Karen away from Nathan and Peyton.

"Thank you"

"Maybe Karen will kill her for us" Nathan whispered as they walked off.

"So you're Lucas's girlfriend?"

"Yea… we actually had a fight earlier, I feel so bad"

"I'm sure it will be okay… Lucas doesn't go out with just anyone" Karen smiled stopping at the front desk.

"Only family past this point"

"I'm Lucas Scott's mother"

"Right this way" The nurse said pointing Karen to Lucas's room.

"It was nice to meet you Megan" Karen smiled giving the girl a quick hug. She seemed nice, of course she had had no idea that Lucas even had a girlfriend at this point, but at least he was moving on.

Peyton and Nathan waited quietly… that is until Brooke finally got there. Her face was covered with tearstains and she had to have been going at least 90 to get there that fast. Peyton was just thankful she'd made it there herself, and not in some ambulance like Lucas.

"Peyton" Brooke cried rushing over to where everyone was sitting.

"He's ok Brooke… come here" Peyton said grabbing Brooke tight. She hadn't seen her like this in a long time, not since the last time Lucas had been in the hospital.

"You're sure?"

"Definitely…"

"His moms in there with him right now, I think she likes me" Megan smiled. It was taking everything Brooke had not to slap her.

"Have you guys seen him?"

"Family only still, he's awake though, Karen came out earlier and said he was talking and laughing… they're just waiting for him a regular bed"

"I shouldn't have yelled at him" Brooke cried hugging Peyton again.

"Brooke it was his meds, not stress ok? Its not your fault"

"Family only huh?"

"Yea… meaning none of us can go in" Megan added as if Brooke were stupid.

"Hey Megan… I bet Karen's pretty hungry, why don't you go see if she wants to get some coffee or something. Get to know her"

"That's a good idea… Thanks Peyton"

"Peyton!" Brooke shrieked! This wasn't helping… Megan and Karen getting coffee just made everything worse.

"Go work your magic B. Davis… that way she and Karen will be out of there, and if we know Megan, she'll keep Karen gone for a good 2 hours"

"Thanks"

Brooke waited until she saw Karen and Megan walk towards the cafeteria together and then made her way down the hall. She wasn't exactly sure how she was going to pull this off. She sure as hell wasn't saying she was his sister… that might possibly scar her for life, and him if he ever found out, there had to be something else…

"Ma'am… can I help you?" The woman at the nurse's station asked, not bothering to look up from her charts.

"Yes… I'm here to see Lucas Scott"

"Are you family?"

"I… I'm his… um, fiancé" Brooke smiled. Why hadn't she thought of his before? It was perfect.

"Congratulations"

"Thank you…"

"When are you due?" The nurse asked looking at Brooke's stomach

"Excuse me?"

"You two are 18, I just figured…"

"Ohh… um like… June 7th?" Brooke asked. She had no idea what to say… she didn't want to sound suspicious or anything… she just wanted to get in there.

"Well congratulations again… here you go"

Brooke walked slowly into the room where Lucas was watching basketball… of course. He didn't look as bad as she thought, but she couldn't help but cry. He still looked bad… sick. IV's and tubes everywhere… things beeping. She felt like throwing up.

"Hey pretty girl" Lucas smiled seeing her walk in. He wasn't surprised, if anyone was going to break their way in it was Brooke. She looked so sad and nervous standing there, he could still see the tear streaks down her cheeks and her hands trembling.

"Hey"

"How'd you manage to get in here?"

"If anyone asks I'm your pregnant fiancé…" Brooke said trying to smile. She wasn't sure if he'd be mad or not.

"Smart…"

"Are you ok?" Brooke asked giving up, it was pointless to stand there and try not to cry, her eyes were already swelling with tears as it was seeing him lay there like that.

"I'm fine"

"You're sure?"

"Brooke…" Lucas whispered re-assuring her.

"You scared the hell out of me" Brooke cried, trying to catch her breathe.

"Come here…"

"Am I aloud?"

"There's a lot of rules in this place, but I haven't read one that says you can't come lay with me, besides when have you ever followed the rules?" Lucas asked sliding over to make room for her.

"Peyton called and left me like 20 messages… I didn't know what to think, I thought you were dead or something" Brooke cried laying down beside him.

"Do I look dead to you?"

"No… but close"

"Thanks…" Lucas laughed kissing the top of her head. It made him feel so much better to have her there, even if she was crying into his chest and causing all the monitors to go haywire.

"I'm sorry…"

"For what?"

"Everything…" Brooke whispered loosing it again. This was harder than she thought.

"Me too, Brooke don't cry"

"I was so scared"

"Me too…" Lucas whispered pulling her closed to his chest. This was exactly why he didn't want her to know, he wanted to save her from this.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I didn't want you to cry"

"Good job with that one…" Brooke said laughing a little and he wiped away from of her tears with his thumb.

"Besides, Peyton told me I wasn't aloud to die until I officially knocked you up"

"Then you should live for a good long time then…"

"Exactly" Lucas smiled

"I should probably get back, before your mom and Megan finish coffee or whatever"

"Stay here with me…"

"What about your mom and Megan?" Brooke asked knowing how bad things would get if they walked in and she was in bed with him… with his arms around her.

"What about them? I'm tired of doing what everyone else thinks I should do, ya know? The more and more I think about it, the more I think us not being together is completely pointless. So we date other people for 4 years and then the second we graduate we run off and elope?"

"At the Elvis Chapel?"

"Whatever you want… I'm just saying I don't need 4 years of dating random girls to see I'm in love with you, I've known that a long time… I want to be with you know Brooke Davis" Lucas whispered kissing her. He had almost forgotten how good it made him feel to kiss her, everything went away for those few seconds as they kissed. He knew he was just making everything that much more complicated but he didn't care at this point. All he cared about was her.

"Me too, but what about Megan?"

"What about Megan?"

"Its not her fault you're in love with me, that I'm so hott, and awesome and all of that good stuff, unfortunately I think she loves you too… and as much as I want to be your girlfriend again right now this very second. I also think you need to break things off slowly with her… ok?" Brooke asked. That had to be the hardest thing she had ever done. Asking Lucas to stay with someone else, someone she hated… just to cause her less pain. But she refused to be the home wrecker in this triangle; she still remembered how it felt to have her heart broken and she didn't wish that on anyone.

"Ok? I guess I should trust your girl ness…"

"You should…I refuse to be the Peyton in this little triangle…"

"I'll do it slowly" Lucas sighed, what was one more week? He didn't want to hurt Megan either.

"What now?"

"We sleep… I don't know about you but I'm worn out"

"I hear almost dying can take a lot out of you" Brooke laying against his chest so she could hear his heart. It always made her feel better to know it was beating.

"It's the truth… stay here?"

"Of course"


	7. Chapter 7

Hey guys! So I am so in love with th is chapter! Its one I read like over and over… so I hope you guys like it! Its getting harder to write now that Brooke and Lucas are actually together on the show! Haha just because I have to be careful with continuity and stuff like that. Anyway… I'll figure something out! Haha… and don't forget you guys… keep checking OTH websites to stay updated on the "Save OTH Campaign" Everyone needs to help! Thanks so much! Enjoy this chapter!

"So the painters came the other day… started pealing paint off the side door to your room" Karen laughed sitting down in the chair beside Lucas's bed. Seeing Brooke laying there with him reminded her of her poor side door.

"Uh oh"

"Uh oh's right… We tried to paint over it but they're were just too many old coats, I guess I should send Brooke the bill"

"I only painted it like… 5 times" Lucas whispered trying not to wake Brooke up. He knew if she woke up and Karen was in there, she'd probably leave… and he really didn't want to be alone with his mother right now. At least if Brooke were in here she wouldn't say but so much about them.

"Only 5?"

"Red, then black, then Brooke tried to paint it back red, and it turned pink, so we painted it white… then red again"

"Too bad her dorm room door isn't red" Karen laughed, hoping Lucas would see it as a sign. A sign that this was a new world, a new beginning… at least a new something that didn't involve his tongue down Brooke Davis's throat.

"She put red paper poka dots on it since they wouldn't let her paint it"

"How'd she get in here?"

"You don't want to know…" Lucas laughed shaking his head. That one would definitely throw Karen for a loop.

"You know… Megan really likes you"

"I know"

"You couldn't… try? Maybe learn to love her?" Karen asked, trying not to be pushy… but get her point across.

"Like you 'tried' with Andy"

"That's not fair Lucas…"

"What's the point? I pretend to love her the next 4 years? Maybe I even marry her… she's never going to be who I really want" Lucas whispered still trying not to wake up Brooke… it was probably a good thing she was asleep, or else it might have been a repeat of his last conversation with his mother about him and Brooke.

"You mean she'll never be Brooke Davis"

"Exactly, mom please… I'm tired of having to explain to you why I love her ok? Give you 'logical' reasons… I don't have them. I just know I do"

"What about 4 years from now Lucas? When your 2 have grown up and matured? What then? Do you even know if you want the same things? I know you Lucas, you'll want a family, and a dog and the whole 9 yards. What if that's not what Brooke wants?" Karen asked knowing good and well that should at least make him a little nervous. She knew her son… and he wanted kids, a wife who cooked and cleaned a dog and a big back yard. She had a feeling Brooke was more into the penthouse with a view and expensive furniture.

"Then we'll compromise"

"Compromise? All that word means Lucas, is making each other slightly less miserable then you would be if you hadn't gotten your way."

"Mom" Lucas sighed. This was pointless… Karen was still going to be complaining about him and Brooke 30 years from now.

"Say Brooke doesn't want kids, you want 3… so you have 1 to compromise. Brooke wont be satisfied because for the rest of her life, she'll be stuck with a kid. And you wont be satisfied because that's not the family you always wanted."

"We're not even 19 yet mom"

"I'm just saying… before you go declaring your love for her again, think about these things. This isn't high school anymore."

Peyton and Nathan sat in the waiting room, bored out of their minds and Megan went on and on about how cool Karen was. Sure… Karen was cool. Nathan and Peyton both thought so. She had been there for both of time so many times when they had needed someone. But just because Karen was cool, and liked them… didn't get them any closer to Lucas.

"Lucas… has the coolest mom ever! She was telling me all about him in high school" Megan smiled, finally mentioning Lucas in her ranting about how cool Karen was.

"We could have done that"

"He seemed like such a good kid! Sweet, caring, sensitive"

"Manwhoreish" Peyton coughed rolling her eyes. Lucas was her friend… but it was the truth.

"What?"

"Karen told you what mothers like to think… she didn't know the real Lucas"

"The real Lucas?" Megan asked. Her eyes were big like a kid in a candy shop…

"You have no idea…"

"No… tell me"

"Lucas in high school?" Nathan laughed. Only one thing came to mind.

"Yea… how did he spend his time? What did he like to do? That sort of thing"

"Um… He liked sex a lot"

"Nathan…" Peyton whispered stepping on his toe.

"What? I think that's all he and Brooke had in common at first… she liked sex, he'd never had sex… they had sex, and apparently they had fun with it because they did it enough until…"

"Until?"

"Lucas cheated on Brooke… with me" Peyton sighed giving up. She was going to try and make things a little less… out there, for Megan but apparently Nathan didn't have the same idea.

"Wow"

"Then he spent a year obsessing over Brooke"

"Tell be about it. Summer before senior year all I heard was how he was the guy for Brooke blah blah blah…" Peyton whined. That had been a terrible summer. At least Haley had been back to take the brunt of it… she only had to hear about it on Tuesdays when she and Lucas went to CD alley.

"Ok… so all he liked to do in high school was Brooke?"

"Pretty much…"

"He's lying. He loves to read, write, basketball. He was pretty artsy" Peyton smiled remembering Lucas before Brooke. He was so quiet, shy, sweet… and now that she thought about it. He seemed kinda tortured, broody and un-happy too.

"I think Brooke turned him un-gay"

"Nathan!"

"What? Seriously… the guy is no one, then he gets put on the basketball team, Brooke strips in his car and every girl wants him… and for a while there, he wanted every girl" Nathan laughed. Peyton couldn't argue, it was the truth.

"This is great!"

"What? That he's a manwhore?"

"No! That he likes to read and write… so do I! Does Brooke?" Megan asked nervously. She assumed she didn't… all she knew about Brooke was she wanted to be a clothes designer.

"Are you kidding me? He wrote her essay to get into NYU for her"

"So she cheated?"

"No… surprisingly she did better on her SAT's than he did, but I think she had some clothes due and didn't have time to write it" Peyton said trying to remember what the whole story had been.

"I should write him a poem or something… you know, to make him feel better"

"You have fun with that…"

"They had some really pretty paper in the gift shop, I'm going to go get some" Megan smiled hugging Peyton and Nathan.

"That poor girl, could she be anymore clueless?"

Karen walked back into Lucas's room after getting her coffee. Brooke and Lucas were still asleep. It seemed like everytime she looked at them, they were closer and closer, to the point where she probably would have fit on the bed with them they were leaving so much open room.

"Alright Romeo and Juliet… up" Karen said turning on the light. There were some groans, and some whines but she didn't care… they'd had enough 'bonding' time for the night.

"What time is it?"

"Early… you should get home. You've got classes, I sent Peyton, Nathan and Megan home hours ago then I fell asleep, right after the nurse congratulated me on beginning a grandmother soon"

"Huh… where would she get a crazy idea like that? I mean I sure don't look fat… although Megan…" Brooke started until Karen kept talking.

"She said you told her about it, and seemed nervous and excited"

"Yea, I should go… call me later" Brooke smiled kissing Lucas's forehead. That in her opinion wasn't a cheating kiss… it was a 'I care about you' kiss. Peyton did it to Nathan and they weren't together…

"That girl is crazy, she's not actually…" Karen started making sure Brooke wasn't actually pregnant. At this point she didn't know… with Brooke and Lucas there was no telling.

"No…"

"Ok… well Keith should be here soon and the doctor said you should be able to leave tomorrow"

"Thank god" Lucas sighed. He was so ready to get out of there, even if it was back to Megan and his dorm room. Anything was better than a hospital at this point.

"Which means you get to have visitors today. Megan will be excited"

"That makes one of us"

"Lucas" Karen whispered giving him a look.

"Mom… Its not that I don't like her… I do, just not like that"

"So how are classes?" Karen sighed not wanting to argue about it anymore. It seemed like that's all she and Lucas had done since she got there.

"Fine"

"How are you on money?"

"Fine" Lucas said pulling a book off the night table.

"Just making sure… you never call anymore"

"Mom…"

"Sorry… just had to do the college mom thing" Karen smiled winking at Lucas. It made him feel a little better that she at least did remember how to joke.

"Great…" Brooke sighed storming back into the room.

"What's wrong Brooke?"

"I kinda left my lights on all night, and the battery's dead"

"Brooke, what have I told you about the lights?" Lucas asked. He couldn't believe this… he had gone over this with her a million times…

"I know… when it beeps, don't ignore it… it means the lights are on"

"Exactly…"

"At least I learned not to leave the mirror open, how would I ever make it through life without you?" Brooke asked sarcastically sitting down beside him on the bed.

"I don't think you would…"

"Hey! I was doing ok for those few weeks we weren't speaking"

"I'm sure you were…" Lucas smiled

"I was" Brooke giggled sticking her tongue out at him.

"Can I give you a ride anywhere Brooke? Keith's downstairs and so he can keep Lucas company"

"Keith's coming! I'm so staying, I miss uncle Keith!" Brooke shrieked making Lucas laugh. Whenever she got really excited about something her voice got so high pitch you could barely understand her.

"What about your classes?"

"I only have 1 class today and I've missed ½… besides I have some sketches due, and I have total sketchers block… Lucas can help"

"Ok… but just sketching you 2, I'm serious" Karen said giving them both a look that meant she meant what she was telling them.

"What else would we do?"

"I don't even want to know…be good, I'll be back in a minute"

"Confession… I was really hoping your battery or something would be dead" Lucas whispered putting his arm around her .

"Lucas Scott! Wishing bad things on me… that is terrible! Ok… confession, my battery's not really dead"

"Brooke Davis! Lying… I'm shocked" Lucas whispered and started to kiss her… until they both remembered.

"Hey! No kissing… We do not cheat…"

"Sorry… forgot"

"We don't forget either…" Brooke sighed leaning back against his shoulder. She wanted to kiss him so bad…

"But I want to kiss you so bad" Lucas whined taking the thoughts right out of her head. It was creepy how he could do that sometimes.

"And you don't think it's killing me? Seriously… my lips are like numb right now, but we cant… we have to think of something else"

"Remember when we finally got together… and we went in my room and just laid there, barely kissing for hours until we fell asleep? It was almost like slow motion; every time our lips touched it was the best feeling. It wasn't even about sex, or making out…it was just about being there with you, right then…knowing I loved you and never wanted to kiss anyone else… I forgot how good that felt until right now"

"And we haven't even kissed" Brooke whispered. This was killing her… he was killing her. Why did he have to say all of that? Her lips were almost itching to get to his. By now their foreheads were touching and she could feel his breath on her face and his arms around her waist.

"Then the next morning we woke up, and we didn't even have to say anything, we just kinda laid there, looking into each others eyes… I remember thinking that right then it felt like we were the only 2 people in the world and that I loved you so much it hurt" Lucas whispered pulling her closer. She could feel his lips barely brush against hers, 1 more second and there was no turning back… but they had too.

"I was thinking about bacon"

"Bacon?"

"I went over there without eating and I was hungry…" Brooke sighed. This was truly killing her, sitting there still in his arms… telling him how at the most crucial part of their relationship, she had been thinking about food.

"Bacon?"

"Ok not really… but if I didn't stop you right then, and say something to totally kill the mood… I was either going to really kiss you, like one of those mind blowing romantic kisses that would have made your heart monitor go crazy, or cry… and I don't want to do either… well I don't want to cry, I do want to kiss you, no, bacon… think bacon, damn it! Lucas…"

"What?" Lucas whispered brushing her hair out of her eyes

"It hurts for me too"

Karen stood outside the doorway with Keith waiting for a good time to go in. She wanted to walk in as soon as she had heard Brooke tell Lucas no kissing… but Keith had stopped her telling her she had to give them space. Personally, she thought that the many miles between Tree Hill and New York were enough space for 2 people… too much if you asked her. Hearing the too of them, hearing how in love they really were made her feel sick. Whenever she saw Lucas and Brooke… all she could think of were her and Dan, and how much she had loved him. So much it had hurt… it still hurt, just in a different way. Of course Keith now gave her that feeling, just never the way Dan had. And she knew that's how it would be for Lucas and Brooke. She saw the way Lucas's lip quivered after he kissed Brooke, and the way Brooke gave him that smile that melted her sons heart. Sometimes she wondered why she was trying to keep them apart… then soon after the memory of her and Dan… and the pain would come back. And somehow… that would make what she was doing right, at least for that moment. To save Brooke and Lucas the pain that she still felt to this day.

"Why don't we go get something to eat… I'm kind of hungry" Keith said pulling Karen away from the door.

"You don't think we should…"

"Karen if we walk in there right now neither of them will ever forgive us"

"What they're doing's wrong… that poor girl Megan" Karen sighed reluctantly moving away from the door.

"All those 2 want to do is be together, what's so wrong with that? Brooke once told me Laugh when you can, apologize when you should and let go of what you can't change. Kiss slowly, love deeply, forgive quickly. Take chances. Give everything and have NO regrets. Life is just too short to be anything but happy."

"When did she tell you that?"

"When I came back for you, she and Lucas had just gotten back together… she said that was her motto" Keith laughed

"I'm so scared for both of them Keith. I'm scared for Lucas, being so in love with someone like Brooke… someone who is so carefree, and successful at 18, who could decide that she doesn't even want a relationship and choose her career over him at any second. I'm scared for Brooke, if she were to marry Lucas and something were to happen to him. I tell myself she's not right for him, she wont give him what he wants in life… family, that sort of thing… but I know deep down that she'd give him kids, she'd give up her career for him, everything for him if he asked her too, and he'd do the same for her. And that's what scares me, it's that kind of love that can ruin your entire life"

"Its that kind of love that can save it too" Keith smiled

"Hey Karen! You must be Keith"

"Megan…"

"I heard Lucas can have visitors now" Megan said pointing to her visitor's sticker on her shirt.

"Um… no"

"No?"

"Not until later today" Keith sighed trying to look disappointed. He'd only met the girl for a few seconds and could already tell that she was definitely rebound.

"Oh… well I wrote him a poem and I wanted him to hear it"

"That was really sweet of you Megan"

"Peyton and Nathan said he loved to read and write…" Megan smiled showing Karen and Keith the piece of blue and silver paper she had found at the gift shop.

"He does"

"Do you think they'd know if I just snuck in there for a second?"

"Um…actually, why don't you come down to the cafeteria with Keith and I" Karen said reluctantly. That was the last thing she wanted was another 100 questions about Lucas. At least Brooke knew everything there was to know about Lucas's life.

"You don't mind?"

"Of course not… Lucas is sleeping and we'll come check on him later"

"That sounds great" Megan smiled giving Karen a hug. That definitely caught both Karen and Keith off guard… this girl was very… feely.

"Ok… so"

"Oh… I meant to ask, do you have any pictures of Lucas when he was little? I know my mom has a million of me in her purse… and I didn't know if" Megan started. Both Karen and Keith were taken- aback with this question but Keith decided he had better show the girl the one he had before she decided to go ask Lucas for one.

"I've got one"

"He was so cute! When was that?"

"He played Viola in 2nd grade" Karen smiled looking down at the picture of Lucas.

"Look at that cute little smile"

"Wow, I never noticed that before…"

"His smile?" Megan laughed

"That's Brooke… standing beside him holding his hand"

"Really?"

"He told me he had a girlfriend in Orchestra… I laughed and never really said anything about it… I wonder if he even remembers" Karen said looking closer at the picture. Sure enough there was Peyton behind them both with Nathan… and Haley on the other side with Faith.

"Could that little girls skirt be any shorter?"

"That's how I know its Brooke…"

"Didn't he say his girlfriend's name in 2nd grade was Aurora… like Sleeping Beauty?" Keith asked, remembering when Lucas had come to him about his girlfriend. He had been this tiny little boy asking what to get his girlfriend Aurora for a present.

"I think he did… but that's definitely Brooke standing beside him in that picture"

"You'll have to show me more one day Karen"

"Sure…now lets go eat"


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8! As far as I can remember I liked this chapter… haha, so you guys should enjoy it! Please review! Lotz of Luv! Thanks always to Kaela! And don't forget to pick up the OTH Friends with Benefit CD out TODAY!

"Megan, here's the thing… I really like you, and your so much fun to be around, but Brooke… she's my soulmate. I've loved her for a long time now, and I can't loose her. She's perfect in everyway… she's supermodel beautiful, insanely smart and gifted and special… I want to serve her forever, be her sex slave and man whore until the day I die?" Lucas asked reading from the script Brooke had written for him, to help him break up with Megan.

"Keep going"

"Brooke… I'm not saying this"

"You don't think I'm super model pretty?" Brooke asked raising her eyebrows at him… she'd had enough of this. Sure she had told Lucas to give it time, but it had been 3 weeks and she was having sex tonight, whether it was with Lucas or not at this point.

"Of course I do… I'm just not telling Megan that as I break up with her"

"You don't think I'm insanely smart and gifted and special…"

"You're definitely… special" Lucas laughed, causing Brooke to punch him in his shoulder. Of course it was his bad one… she always seemed to forget but he didn't have the heart to tell her.

"Lucas!"

"I just think when I do it I shouldn't mention that the second I break up with her, I'm gonna come make out with you"

"When you put it like that it makes me feel guilty" Brooke sighed balling up the piece of paper she had been using to write scripts for Lucas.

"What are we supposed to do?"

"Your right, ok she's not going to let go easily… now pretend I'm Megan again"

"Again?" Lucas sighed getting frustrated with this whole situation.

"Yep! Ok…Lucas, how do you know this is going to work? You guys don't have much going for you in a relationship" Brooke said in what was supposedly her Megan voice.

"The world is going to throw us a million reasons why this isn't gonna work out between us, but i'm armed with one reason why it will…my heart's in it…"

"And I didn't even write that"

"Because that's the truth…" Lucas said giving her a smile. Normally he would have kissed her after saying something like that, but for 3 weeks now every time he had tried she had pinched him.

"And it's not the truth that you'll be my man whore? Fine… just go so I can kiss you when you get back! I'm meeting your mom for lunch"

"Yea… have fun with that one"

"She wants to have a girl chat… She's probably going to hand me condoms and birth control and give me that lecture again where she says she doesn't want grandchildren until she's 50" Brooke giggled remembering their last chat…

"50? That would make us like 32"

"On the other hand… I think her being 50… good idea, call me and let me know how it went?"

"Yep… wish me luck" Lucas sighed kissing Brooke on the cheek. He assumed that was at least ok…

"Luck"

Peyton waited at Starbucks for Karen and Brooke. She was still trying to figure out what she was doing here… this was between Brooke and Karen, not her. But somehow she always managed to get drug into their love hate relationship. When Brooke and Lucas weren't dating… Brooke was like the daughter Karen never had, but the second Brooke and Lucas were a couple, the arguing began. Peyton couldn't wait to see the day that Brooke and Lucas were finally married and maybe even had kids… that's when it would get really interesting.

As Peyton took a sip of her coffee to keep from laughing at how dysfunctional the Scott family really was… she caught a glimpse of the one person who knew more about how crazy the Scott's could get more than anyone else. Haley, there she was sitting across the place, with another guy. Peyton was so shocked she almost spit out her coffee. Haley didn't have lunch with other guys… unless their name was Chris Keller. Not only was she eating with him… she was laughing and he kept touching her hand. Before she could even think what to do, they got up and walked out… passing right by Karen who didn't even notice.

"Hey Peyton… where's Brooke?" Karen asked assuming they would come together. At least that's what she was hoping… if she were with Peyton that meant maybe she wasn't off getting herself knocked up with Lucas.

"Late as usual…"

"Do I want to know?"

"Don't worry… she and Lucas have been very good. She refuses to do anything with him until he breaks up with Megan" Peyton said reassuring an already nervous looking Karen.

"Good for Brooke… maybe he wont break up with Megan"

"Karen…"

"Sorry… kidding… sorta" Karen laughed seeing Brooke hurry through the door.

"Sorry I'm late, what's up?"

"Just waiting on Haley"

"Oh…she um…" Peyton started but Haley interrupted walking in right behind Brooke. That meant Brooke had to have seen Haley with the guy… right? She'd at least have to ask her when they left.

"I what?"

"Good… now your all here, coffee?"

"Nope" Brooke and Peyton both said at the same time.

"No thanks"

"Is that because you just finished some?" Peyton asked giving Haley a slight glare.

"What?"

"Nothing…"

"You 3 girls are important to Lucas, and so I thought I should tell you this before I tell him… I'm not totally sure how he's going to take it" Karen sighed trying to get right to the point. She didn't have long before she had to meet Keith to do some shopping…

"You're moving to new Zealand to get back with Andy!" Brooke asked excitedly. How great would that have been? Brooke loved Andy… and Keith… but Andy did have that accent… plus he was a total hottie.

"No… Brooke, I'm with Keith"

"Right…ok then what?"

"You girls have to promise not to tell him" Karen said giving them all a look… especially Brooke, who couldn't keep a secret for the life of her.

"Of course" Haley and Peyton both agreed.

"Brooke?"

"What?"

"Promise" Karen said making sure Brooke meant it.

"I'm not gonna lie…"

"Don't lie… just don't tell"

"Fine…" Brooke sighed. This sucked… now she had 2 secrets to keep. This and Haley's man thing… this wasn't going to be fun.

"Keith and I are…"

"Getting married!"

"Brooke…we're already married, 4 months ago remember?" Karen asked stunned that Brooke couldn't remember, considering she had been Lucas's date to the wedding.

"Oh yea"

"Anyway… we're having a baby"

"Karen that's great!" Haley shrieked jumping up to hug Karen. Even Peyton got a huge smile on her face… but Brooke wasn't sure what to think.

"When are you due?"

"June 7th"

"Congratulations" Peyton laughed hugging Karen. Brooke couldn't help but smile, she had always figured Karen would have another baby some day, not to mention the fact that this was the perfect thing to get her off her and Lucas's backs.

"How do you guys think Lucas will take it?"

"What do you mean?"

"How would you guys take it if your parents had another kid right now?" Karen asked looking nervous again.

"I don't have enough parents for that…"

"I'd love it" Haley smiled reassuring Karen.

"Brooke?"

"I guess I wouldn't care either way… its not like I see my parents, I think Lucas is going to be excited…"

"Really?" Karen asked hoping Brooke was right. She knew Brooke wouldn't lie to her… Peyton and Haley would tell her exactly what she wanted to hear, but not Brooke. She'd tell her exactly what she thought.

"Yea…"

"Thanks so much girls… I'm going to take Lucas to dinner tonight and tell him"

"Tonight?" Brooke whined suddenly not feeling as cheery.

"Yea…"

"But…"

"But?" Karen asked knowing exactly why Brooke was whining, but decided not to say anything.

"Nothing… I've waited 3 weeks… what's another night"

Lucas met Megan at the library in the Novels section where they always met. He was nervous, usually when he broke up with girls it didn't go well… of course they're had only ever been 2. Brooke and Anna… and he guessed that hadn't turned out but so bad. But Megan was different… she wasn't like Anna who was going to say it was all ok because she was gay… at least he didn't think she was. But on the other hand she wasn't as… passionate about the whole thing as Brooke had been. Meaning she hopefully wouldn't make his life a living hell for weeks like Brooke had done.

"Hey" Megan whispered tapping Lucas on the shoulder. She looked upset, wasn't a good sign.

"Hey… what's wrong?"

"Lucas… I have terrible news"

"What?" Lucas asked, nervously.

"I called my parents today… and was telling them all about you"

"Ok…"

"You're not Jewish…" Megan cried letting the tears flow. Lucas didn't know what to say… he wasn't Jewish, that was the truth but he didn't know why she was crying about it.

"No…"

"That's the problem! They said the only way they would support us in a relationship was if you were Jewish"

"Wow… I" Lucas started actually feeling relieved, here they were and she was doing the breaking up… or begging or whatever it was.

"You wouldn't be willing to convert would you?"

"Um"

"I called to see if you could come for Thanksgiving, and they said I could only bring Jewish boys home… and so if you were going to come, you'd have to convert like now" Megan said handing him a book titled 'Judaism for Dummies'

"I can't convert"

"Why?"

"Because…" Lucas said not sure what to say next…

"Then we can't be together, I wont lie to my parents"

"I um… I'm sorry"

"At least think about it for a few days… ok? Let me know after break…" Megan said trying to smile. Lucas could tell she was really hurt and he felt terrible… even though this actually wasn't his fault.

"Sure… hey wait… so are we broken up?"

"I'm sorry Lucas"

"Yea… me too" Lucas said hugging her. He was still trying to figure out how he had gotten off the hook so easily…

"You'll think about it though right?"

"Sure…"

"Ok… bye" Megan whispered. Lucas could tell she was trying to smile, but she was failing desperately… he actually felt bad for the girl, she couldn't help liking him anymore then he could help loving Brooke.

"Bye…"

Brooke sat boredly on Lucas's bed waiting for him to come back. She was debating in her mind about what to tell him happened at lunch. She could lie… and leave him totally blindsided for tonight, or she could slip him little hints so that he would at least be prepared for Karen's big news. I mean she knew he was going to be excited… that was Lucas, but it was still a lot to take in for anyone. Finally she heard the doorknob twists and her heart skipped. Of course, be it her luck it was just Nathan…

"Man… are you ever going to leave now?" Nathan whined seeing Brooke laid up in Lucas's bed. He could tell by the look on her face she was never leaving again…

"Not if I can help it"

"Hey, did Haley get a new number?"

"I don't think so… why?" Brooke asked thinking back if Haley had mentioned something about it. She'd been kind if pre-occupied lately and hadn't been giving Haley or Peyton her complete attention.

"I called her cell earlier and it sounded like a guys answered"

"Maybe she did… I'll ask her next time I see her"

"You know she's seeing someone though right?" Nathan asked completely blindsiding Brooke. Of course she knew Haley was seeing someone… but Nathan wasn't supposed to know!

"What?"

"She told me at breakfast a while back…"

"I'm sorry Nate…" Brooke sighed. Poor guy… she couldn't imagine how bad he had to be feeling right now. It didn't matter if he was with Haley or not. That didn't make him love her any less… and she could tell from the look in his eyes, he definitely still loved her a lot.

"I mean it's not a big deal… I actually can't say anything about it; she's not my wife anymore. It's just hard… I mean after you and Lucas being the way you were… are, could you ever seriously date someone else again?"

"Lucas and I weren't married…"

"You might as well have been. I just can't see myself out with anyone else, I haven't even met the guy she's seeing and I already hate him" Nathan ½ laughed. Brooke knew exactly what he meant. The name Anna came to mind actually… she had hated that girl so much just because she had been with Lucas… and now when she thought about it, it seemed stupid since Anna was bi and Lucas loved her… maybe things would work out just as well for Nathan and Haley.

"Don't worry Nate… It'll get better…"

"Hey" Lucas interrupted opening the dorm room door.

"My Boyfriend!" Brooke asked hopefully bouncing off the bed. By the look on his face it was too hard to tell… it was actually like torture… until he finally grabbed her and kissed her.

"My Girlfriend"

"I'm gonna go…"

"How'd it go?" Brooke asked kissing him again as soon as she finished the question… she wasn't sure why she was even asking questions! Kiss now, questions later.

"She broke up with me actually…"

"Wow…"

"Yea" Lucas said pulling her closer. It felt so good to hold her like that, and not feel guilty… well that and to not have her pinching him for the first time in 3 weeks.

"So we should celebrate now while we can…"

"While we can?"

"Before your mom drags you off to dinner tonight" Brooke sighed. This sucked… the mood was totally dead now.

"No…"

"Sorry…"

"I was gonna take you out" Lucas said kissing her forehead. Leave it to his mother to completely ruin this…

"Really? Cause I kinda wanted to stay in if you get my picture…"

"Cant I just tell my mom I'm sick?

"Lucas, how often is she here?" Brooke asked completely torn with what to do. She really REALLY wanted Lucas to just say screw dinner, and stay there with her. But on the other hand what Karen had to tell him was pretty important….

"A lot lately…"

"Besides, if your sick… she's gonna want to come over and take care of you, just go have a quick dinner, and I'll be here with you get back"

"We still have a little while" Lucas whispered giving in. If he wasn't going t o get to be with Brooke tonight, he'd at least make the best of the time they had now.

"Uh huh…" Brooke giggled kissing him… the second she felt his lips touch hers, of course there it was. Lucas's phone.

"Damn it! How does she know?"

"It must be that thing mothers get when they have kids… that 5th sense or something"

"6th sense" Lucas laughed

"No… that's the sense when you see dead people"

"Hello?" Lucas asked still laughing at Brooke's response.

"Hey Lucas… I don't know if Brooke told you about dinner or not but"

"Yea, about that I"

"Keith and I are actually going to stay in… Breakfast in the morning?" Karen asked. She could hear Brooke giggling in the background. As much as she hated the thought of canceling dinner, and leaving Brooke and Lucas up to god only knew what. She just wasn't up for dinner tonight.

"Sounds great…"

"Ok… see you then"

"And…" Brooke asked waiting for Lucas to explain the smile on his face.

"No dinner"

"I love your mother"

"Breakfast in the morning…" Lucas whispered grabbing her tight .

"Well we better get started now so we can get some sleep then…"

"What do you have in mind?"

20 minutes later Brooke had drug Lucas all the way across campus. This definitely wasn't what he had had in mind. It was freezing and starting to get dark… and with the look on Brooke's face there was no telling what she had planned. Or how long she had had it planned. Which meant 1 of 3 things… it was going to get them arrested, sick, or probably cause some kind of pain. Not to mention she had conned him into giving her a piggy back ride ½ way there… which usually wasn't a problem for him. But it wasn't easy to walk… and have Brooke Davis kissing your neck at the same time.

"Ok… we're here" Brooke said jumping off his back. She was still debating on whether or not this was a good idea. They used to do stuff like this all the time in high school… but now, at least in the past few months they had both matured, and it just didn't seem as daring… so much as it did stupid.

"The Fountain…"

"Yep"

"Do I want to know?" Lucas asked not even trying to guess what she had in mind.

"Depends, how much do you miss seeing me naked?"

"Brooke"

"Chill out Broody… I'm not going to do it here, but you've been with that Megan chick way too long… and I must get every bit of Prudyness out of you" Brooke whispered kissing him. That should at least calm him down long enough for her to explain her plan.

"I have no Prude ness"

"Uh huh… ok then grab my ass in front of those girls" Brooke giggled watching his cheeks turn red. She loved how she could make him blush, and say completely inappropriate things like that… and he didn't care. Usually he just shook his head and kissed her.

"What?"

"See! 3 months ago… you had no problem with that, Megan has corrupted you to the good side and I wont tolerate it"

"Brooke… can we please go back to the room? Its cold and I'll do whatever you want in there" Lucas whispered taking her hands in his.

"Lucas… its not like I'm asking you to skinny dip in the fountain with me, we both know you wouldn't do that"

"Who says?"

"Lucas… I love you but come on, it took me an hour to convince you to do it in my heated pool when no one was there" Brooke giggled kissing his cheek. She had to admit though, that's what she loved about him. He kept her from getting too crazy…

"It did not"

"It did too… and admit it, you had a blast…"

"I did… ok Brooke Davis, you're on" Lucas whispered kissing her cold cheek.

"Wait what?"

"I'll do it if you do it"

"Wait… I never said" Brooke said trying to figure out how this had gotten so turned around… all she had wanted was to walk with him by the fountain and then go get some coffee!

"Wait… pretty girl are you chicken?"

"No… it's just really cold, and wet"

"Need I remind you of the snow storm of 2006?" Lucas asked reminding her of the huge snow storm they had had last year… and Brooke's brilliant idea to see exactly how hot and heavy they could get… and if it would melt the snow. It hadn't really ended well…

"Need I remind you of how cold that snow was!"

"Ok… if you don't want too, and you thought Megan turned me I into a prude…"

"Ugh fine… strip, your on… first one out looses and has to be the other ones slave for a week…" Brooke sighed slipping off her coat and gloves. Of she froze to death… at least she'd die as Lucas's girlfriend.


	9. Chapter 9

Haha! I love you guys… I always get a kick out of your reviews! I love them so much… I can seriously have no idea what I am going to write, then I read some reviews and I come up with a million ideas! Thank you so much!

"Ok… on the count of 3" Brooke whispered standing on the edge if the fountain. At least they had made a mutual decision to not get totally naked… just down to the underwear and bra. This way she only felt 90 stupid…

"1…2…3"

"Holy shit" Brooke shrieked as she hit the cold water

"At least we decided to keep the underwear on…"

"What now? We can't exactly swim in the shallow fountain"

"This wasn't very well thought out" Lucas shivered. The fountain was only waist deep… and a lot dirtier than he had imagined.

"We could just go back"

"Good idea"

"Or now that we're in" Brooke giggled, still shivering. They might has well have some fun with this… after all they were already freezing their asses off as it was… what was 5 more minutes?

"What?"

"We can't just get in and then get out"

"Ok… so?" Lucas asked feeling his legs start to go numb.

"So you can be a good boyfriend and kiss your girlfriend" Brooke whispered wrapping her arms around his neck. As he brushed her hair out of her face to kiss her, she could feel the chill bumps on his arm. At least his lips were warm as he kissed her and pulled her closer to him. Brooke could feel her spine tingle… she wasn't sure if it was because she was cold… or the kiss was just that good. She didn't care, she kissed him back hard as his hands ran down her back and then up again.

"Can we go back now?" Lucas whispered kissing her ear as he asked

"Uh huh"

"Freeze you too"

"Believe me, we're already there" Brooke shivered breaking away from Lucas to respond to the man standing in front of them.

"How would you like to come with me… warm up some?"

"We've got dorm rooms… thanks"

"Brooke… he's an officer" Lucas whispered

"Oh…"

"Come on you 2… get dressed"

"You can't arrest us! We aren't doing anything wrong!" Brooke whined climbing out of the fountain. This figured... anyway she blamed Lucas. It had been his idea in the first place… plus she was guessing he was going to blame her for the whole situation… it was going to be an interesting fight.

"Lets see… I'm guessing you 2 are too young to drink"

"We're not drunk"

"Ever heard of indecent exposure?" The officer asked pointing out that Brooke was in a pink polka dot bra and matching under wear… and Lucas was in his boxers.

"Was that that movie with Angelina Jolie?"

"Its against the law… I'm gonna have to take you 2 in"

Nathan waited outside the library for Peyton. He was early, but waiting here was better than watching Brooke and Lucas make out in his dorm room. Part of him was happy they were back together, sure. But the other part hated the fact that they were both happy and he wasn't… at least when it came to relationships. He and Haley barely spoke, he hadn't met one girl since he'd been here, of course that was his own fault. And the only person he ever hung out with was Peyton… his ex girlfriend. At least Peyton was in the same boat as him… missing Jake and Jenny. Lately they had spent a lot of time talking about everything, and it was nice… which was why he was there today. Apparently she had something interesting…

"Hey… dude did you hear about those idiots in the fountain?" Peyton laughed joining Nathan on the steps of the library. He looked so cute standing there with his red nose and pink cheeks it almost made her blush. Lately talking to Nathan hadn't been as easy as usual… probably because of the dreams she'd been having about her and Nathan together. She wasn't sure if she was having them because she wanted Nathan… or maybe she was just desperate and lonely. Either way… it could never happen. He was Nathan, Haley's husband… well ex- husband but still. It would be just too weird.

"No…"

"Apparently they were like skinny dipping"

"Wow… I wonder if they know the rec has a heated pool?" Nathan asked shaking his head. There were some… interesting people on this campus to say the least. He was just glad he did have Brooke, Lucas and Peyton here with him. Even if Lucas was no fun, and Brooke tried to set him up every week, at least there was Peyton.

"Guess not…

"So what's the interesting news?"

"Ok so you can't tell Lucas" Peyton grinned. Nathan could tell she was really excited, so whatever it was, at least it was good news.

"Like he's going to have his tongue out of Brooke's throat long enough to have a conversation"

"Good point, Ok… Karen's pregnant"

"No way…" Nathan definitely hadn't expected that one. He'd always though of Karen as… well old. Even if she was only 37.

"Yep… so I guess that gives you a cousin"

"Good for her and Keith… they deserve it"

"Now maybe" Peyton laughed. Nathan could already see where this was going… and he didn't even want to hear it.

"Don't say it… my mom and dad aren't even together"

"Like that's stopped people in Tree Hill before"

"Besides, last I heard he was sleeping with Erica Marsh or something" Nathan cringed. Just the thought made him want to gag.

"Ew…"

"Tell me about it… but he is Dan"

"Mayor Dan Scott" Peyton laughed… those 3 words together sounded like the apocalypse.

"Thank god we're in New York… coffee?"

"Yes…"

Brooke sat in her jail cell looking at her perfectly manicured fingernails. This definitely wasn't how she'd imagined tonight… although she had to admit, it was like old times. She was pissed… Lucas was pissed… what else was new? At least they had given them their clothes back. Although it had been fun seeing Lucas's nice abs again. She had almost had the nerve to ask them to keep his clothes… at least that would have given her something to look at other than her fingernails.

"My moms on her way…" Lucas sighed sitting next to Brooke who was still staring down at her fingernails. He knew she only did that when she was trying to keep from crying. Even though this was just as much her fault as it was his, he still felt terrible and from the looks of things so did she.

"She's going to kill us…"

"Tell me about it…"

"It can't be any worse than last time" Brooke said trying to smile remembering the last time they had ended up in jail together after sneaking into her old backyard to dig up her time capsule.

"For me it could… last time she blamed you for corrupting her innocent son… and wouldn't let me see you for a week"

"That's it? You never told me that!"

"That's because I didn't listen to her…" Lucas whispered putting his arm around Brooke, pulling her to his shoulder.

"This kind of funny when you think about it"

"How is this funny?"

"Come on… Lucas how many people can say they've been arrested for basically freezing they're asses off in a fountain… practically naked?" Brooke laughed. She had a point… while most college students were getting arrested for drunk driving or something equally as dangerous, they were in jail for this…

"Whatever you say…" Lucas sighed giving her one last quick kiss before his mom got there.

"What was that for?"

"Last kiss sort of thing before she kills us both"

"What is wrong with you 2?" Karen yelled bursting into the police station with Keith at her side. She looked really, really pissed.

"Um…"

"Don't you dare use the I'm in love line! You are 18 years old! I should just leave you both in here…"

"Why don't you?" Keith asked looking equally annoyed at the 2 of them.

"They might get bored and multiply like rabbits…"

"We're not that bad"

"You were in the fountain? Almost naked…this right here is why I suggested you 2 spend some time apart! Separate you're fine… you study, you work hard, you don't end up in jail!" Karen yelled glaring at them both. By now Brooke and Lucas had slid as far away from each other as possible so not to feed her rage.

"We're miserable…"

"Don't give me that crap Lucas… I am still your mother and as long as I have to bail your ass out of jail, you'll listen to my lectures!"

"Sorry" Lucas sighed. He was just ready to get out of there.

"Come on… I want you both at home in bed, separately before you catch phenomena, you're lucky all you're going to have go do for this is community service"

"Ew… like picking up trash?"

"Something like that… Brooke your hairs soaked, come on" Karen sighed rolling her eyes. At this point she was just about ready to give up… maybe this next baby would turn out better.

"We'll call you in a few days with your assignments"

Keith waited in the car with Brooke and Lucas while Karen and the police officer chatted in the police station. The whole car was silent, except for Keith's terrible whiney opera music. Brooke didn't know there was music worse than Peyton's screamo Emo music… but she definitely wasn't going to say anything. She was content to be warm, dry and have Lucas's arm around her… at least until Karen came back out.

"You've got a good mother Lucas" Keith finally said breaking the silence.

"I know"

"Just promise me you 2 aren't going to do anything else this crazy for a while… like get married or pregnant or drop out of school or anything to cause your mother stress… at least until she has the baby"

"Wait what?" Lucas asked catching the tale end of that sentence.

"You didn't tell him?"

"Karen said not too"

"That doesn't usually stop you" Keith said trying to cover his own ass. Karen was definitely going to kill him for this one.

"She's pregnant?"

"Yea"

"Ok…" Lucas said slowly. Poor guys was so pale and dumbfounded Brooke couldn't help but laugh, and feel sorry for him at this same time. Lucas, as a general rule didn't handle change well… even small things. So his mother having a baby was definitely threw him for a loop.

"You ok?"

"Yea…"

"You're kinda pale" Brooke whispered taking his hand. If he was acting like this finding out his mother was pregnant… she couldn't even imagine what he was going to do one day if they had kids.

"This is a new one for me…"

"You're such a guy… Lucas babies are happy… smile" Brooke giggled kissing his cheek… trying anything to make him smile before Karen got back. That was the last thing she needed was to have Lucas upset about this.

"Ok you 2… so I talked to the cop, threw around Dan's name, instead of your normal garbage patrol… you 2 get to work at the children's home for 3 months"

"What? I don't even like kids"

"Kids or garbage Brooke?" Karen asked giving her a fake smile

"I mean… I love kids"

"Your pregnant?"

"Brooke!" Karen shrieked assuming Brooke had told him.

"I didn't tell him! Talk to your hubby there…"

"Keith"

"I figured Brooke would have told him by now…" Keith said nervously. Karen looked even more mad than she had earlier…

"I just love how everyone has so much trust in me…"

"I thought you didn't want anymore kids"

"I didn't… but people change Lucas" Karen said trying to comfort Lucas. She knew he was talking about Andy… that had been after all why she had told Lucas she hadn't married him.

"Its just weird…"

"How?"

"I don't know… I'll be 19 years older than this kid" Lucas said still trying to process the whole situation. It just seemed weird…

"So? Free babysitting from you in the summer"

"Sucks to be you babe" Brooke smiled patting his shoulder. Little did Karen know, if Brooke had her way… she and Lucas were definitely skipping out on Tree Hill this summer… at least for part of it.

"Sucks to be my girlfriend who gets to help"

"Damn…"

"It'll be ok Luke" Karen sighed. That was all she could think to say…

"Why don't you guys drop me off, and go have your dinner"

"You don't want to come?"

"Sorry babe… I love you but I've been in a smelly jail cell with you for 3 hours… and a completely gross fountain… I'm gonna use your shower, come find me when you get back" Brooke whispered kissing him as they pulled up to the dorms. Usually she would have jumped at the opportunity to go to dinner with everyone… it was definitely always interesting, but even she knew this was something Karen, Lucas and Keith needed to do alone.

"I heard that, Lucas don't go find her…"

Upstairs in the her dorm room Peyton sat drawing on her bed while Nathan studied… she had to admit, it was nice now that Brooke and Lucas were together, here it had only been a few hours and they hadn't heard a word from either of them. That was until Brooke burst through the door.

"Woah… Brooke… you look like you've been…"

"Swimming in a fountain?" Brooke asked giving Peyton her fake sarcastic smile.

"That was you?"

"Then put in jail? Yea… long day"

"Where's Lucas? You 2 call it quits already?" Nathan laughed. Brooke didn't find this amusing at all… but that was ok. She didn't have too… it didn't matter what Peyton or Nathan or Karen or Keith or anyone thought about her and Lucas anyone. Plus she'd call Haley later… at least she'd be happy for her.

"Do you want me to hurt you? He's with his mother and Keith"

"Brooke…"

"What?" Brooke asked preparing herself for the next smartass comment

"You look happy"

"I am… I mean we had this almost completely insane terrible day right? First the fountain, then jail, then his mom told him the news… and I had so much on my mind with school and him and my designs and everything"

"What's your point Brooke?"

"Every time he grabbed my hand or kissed my cheek or gave me that perfect smile… I almost passed out… I just forgot how good it felt" Brooke sighed sitting down on her bed. She could feel the hallmark card lines building up inside her right now…

"Almost passing out?"

"No… being in love, and knowing he loved me back"

"All I remember about love is pain" Peyton whined shooting a look at the picture of her and Jake she had on her vanity.

"And jealousy…"

"Ok seriously you 2… don't make me hurt you"

"I'm glad your happy Brooke" Peyton finally said feeling bad that she and Nathan were totally killing Brooke's happy mood. After all it wasn't her fault Haley was with another guy and Jake was MIA.

"Thanks… now I'm going to take a shower… ugh no telling what fungus I might have caught"

"Is it just me or do you really hate them right now"

"Its not just you…" Peyton laughed rolling her eyes at Nathan.

"I miss Haley"

"I miss Jake"

"Dinner?" Nathan asked figuring they'd go somewhere with burgers… he could use a burger right now.

"Hell yes…"

Lucas's dinner with his mom and Keith had gone just about how he had expected. It started out with pointless small talk, grades, classes, girls. That sort of thing… Then of course Brooke was brought up, and Karen let him know her exact feelings on the situation… and they weren't exactly positive. For 30 minutes he heard about how Brooke was never going to be ready for a real life relationship, how her career was important to her… and how she needed to grow up a little bit. Lucas tried to throw in the facts that 1. Brooke was 18 and making more money from her clothing line a month than Karen was from the café, 2. That it had been his idea to do the whole fountain thing… and 3. That he was in love with her so it didn't matter what she said. But as usual… Karen didn't care. And for once he could see her point some… here he was worried about his mom being with Keith. He knew Keith was a good guy, but now they were having a baby and Lucas didn't even know if they had the money to do it. If Keith even had a job right now… That's when the baby talk started. Lucas decided that right now, since he was tried, smelled like chlorine, and really just wanted to get home and talk all of this over with Brooke… he'd just smile and act happy about the baby. Luckily it worked… and finally he was back in his room at 12:30

Brooke was laid up on his bed in her bathrobe watching Steal Magnolias and crying like a girl. He always thought it was cute how she cried in every chick flick… Even though she always begged him to watch it with her swearing it was funny and good. But the fact that she was crying now, wasn't a good sign for him… this probably meant she was going to want to talk… and not that he didn't love talking to her… just not at 12:30 when he needed a shower.

"Has she died yet?" Lucas asked lying down beside Brooke

"No… not yet"

"Why Steal Magnolias?" Lucas asked pausing the movie

"Because I watched all my cheery movies when we weren't dating to cheer me up" Brooke said trying to compose herself. She was such a girl… and it didn't help that Lucas was laughing at her.

"But Steal Magnolias?" Lucas laughed pulling her into his lap.

"It was between this and Beaches"

"Should I be concerned?"

"No… I'm better, how was dinner?" Brooke asked. She guessed it hadn't gone but so bad, because he seemed to be in a fairly good mood, after all he was laughing at her.

"How do you think?"

"Small talk, arguing about me and then baby talk?"

"Yep…" Lucas sighed. Brooke knew his family too well.

"I'm sorry… did you at least give us a good case?"

"You know why my mom's so scared of us being together right?"

"Why?" Brooke asked, already knowing the answer

"Because she knows its real… why would she care other wise? I'm gonna go take a shower… finish your chick flick" Lucas sighed rolling his eyes at her, and then kissed her.

"Or… I could take a shower too…" Brooke said kissing back… suddenly Steal Magnolia's just didn't seem as entertaining as Lucas in the shower…

"You just had one…"

"That's not the point"


	10. Chapter 10

Authors note: Hey guys… I know its been forever since I updated, and I am so sorry! I'm actually out of state right now (Kentucky… haha don't ask) but I should be home soon! Thank you guys sooo much for your patience… Luckily I have at least e-mailed myself a few chapters, so I was at least able to get this one up for you guys! I hope you like it! Thanks SOOO much for all the reviews!

"Brooke… Brooke wake up" Lucas yelled for the 3rd time, this time throwing a pillow at Brooke to get her moving. At this point they were already running late.

"No…"

"We've gotta go…"

"Where?" Brooke whined burring herself father under the covers to block the light and Lucas's voice.

"Volunteer… remember?"

"With the germy gross little snotty things?"

"The kids? Yes…" Lucas laughed pulling the comforter off Brooke so she couldn't hide anymore.

"Do we have too?"

"It's that…"

"Or?" Brooke asked hopefully. Lucas made it sound like there was another option and she liked other options… especially ones that meant sleeping late.

"Jail"

"I'm up…"

"Not to mention you've gotta get out of here before the RA sees you stayed over" Lucas said checking out in the hallway to make sure no one was out there.

"Why? We've been fooling him for the past week…" Brooke giggled kissing him before making her way down to her dorm. Even though she'd spent maybe 3 hours in there in the past week.

"I'll meet you downstairs in 5 minutes"

Brooke skipped into her dorm room where Nathan was asleep on her bed… She felt kind of bad that she and Lucas had basically kicked him out the past few nights, although he hadn't been complaining much. Actually Brooke couldn't remember him complaining once…

"Ew cooties!" Brooke whined flipping the light on to wake Nathan and Peyton up.

"Morning to you too Brooke"

"You're up early" Peyton groaned looking at her alarm clock. Even she didn't get up this early and she'd always been a morning person. For Brooke Davis to be up something had to be wrong… or at least there had to be a sale somewhere.

"Needy children await…"

"Ew…"

"See! I told Lucas you weren't fond of children either" Brooke said wishing Lucas were there to hear this. Especially since they had argued about it for 20 minutes last night.

"Didn't believe you?"

"He said you liked Jenny"

"Well you liked Jenny" Peyton added trying to think of at least 1 thing to help Brooke out. The truth was neither of them had ever been huge baby people. Of course Brooke had had her fair share of baby dolls growing up… but from what Peyton could remember when they played "House" or something Brooke always gave them a nanny…

"I know… I told him"

"Did you tell him that if you two didn't stop having sex every 2 seconds he was going to have children of his own?" Nathan asked obviously making a point that he wanted his bed back.

"For your information whiney ass… not that its any of your business, we've only had sex like… 3 times"

"Then what are you guys doing in there?"

"Sleeping… what are you guys doing in here?" Brooke asked proving her point.

"Sleeping…"

"See! So it's not that hard to believe… We're not rabbits, even though Karen likes to tell people we are. We are in a loving, caring relationship which sex is not the main focus"

"Is that what Lucas tells Karen on the phone everyday…" Peyton yawned trying to imagine that conversation… or at least imagine Lucas telling Karen nothing was happening between Brooke…. While Brooke was giving him a hickey at the same time.

"Pretty much… ok Peyton I need to borrow one of your shirts"

"Why?"

"So if the kids get like snot on me…" Brooke said thinking she had made it pretty obvious… all of Peyton's shirts looked creepy and gross anyway… kid snot might actually be helpful.

"No…"

"Please?"

"No Brooke…" Peyton whined pulling the covers back over her head.

"Fine…I'll just wear this, wish me luck"

"Someone should probably wish the kids luck"

Downstairs Lucas ran into Haley while he was waiting for Brooke. According to her story she was there to talk to Peyton about some kind of music project she was doing, but from the look she had on her face, Lucas didn't believe her. He knew Haley and she was definitely hiding something.

"So… you're up early" Haley said shuffling back and forth like she always did when she was nervous. Lucas didn't know why she was trying to lie to him… then again it wasn't like they talked a lot anymore anyway… at least not about anything important.

"So are you… you ok Hales?"

"Fine… Just need to talk to Brooke about something I'm doing for a class"

"I thought it was Peyton for Music?" Lucas asked now sure she was hiding something.

"Good thing I have a lot of friends… there's Brooke now"

"Hey Haley, wanna pretend your names Brooke today and go play with a bunch of precious little children?"

"No… crisis… now" Haley said pulling Brooke as far away from Lucas as possible to talk.

"Right ok… Lucas my love, wanna warm up the car?"

"He was talking about marriage"

"What?" Brooke asked completely confused for a second. Haley had more drama lately than Brooke knew what to do with.

"I know! I don't want to marry him! I was just having fun…"

"Did you tell him that?"

"No… not exactly…" Haley whispered making totally sure Lucas couldn't hear what they were saying… even if he was all the way at the car. She couldn't have anyone know about this but Brooke. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to know about this guy anymore. Everything was just getting too complicated.

"Haley does he even know about you and Nathan?"

"Are you kidding me? No… he'd think I was a Looney if I told him I got married at 16 and was divorced by 18"

"Uh huh…" Brooke sighed stating the obvious.

"I need you to hit on him"

"What!"

"Please! Just so I can see how into this he is… if he flirts back, then we're still good… but if he turns you down, that means he's really serious and I have to break things off" Haley whispered… and basically yelled at the same time. She seemed pretty scared and desperate… not the usual confident Haley that Brooke was so used too.

"Haley! I can't hit on him! Lucas would have a conniption fit!"

"He wouldn't have to know!"

"Oh no… The only way I'm doing this is if I tell Lucas the plan" Brooke said putting her foot down. There was no way in hell she was hitting on another guy and not telling Lucas why she did it… the last thing she needed right now was him mad at her for something that wasn't even her fault

"Brooke!"

"Haley!"

"Brooke!" Lucas yelled from the car pointing to his watch. He was about ready to leave her there…

"Coming…"

"At least think about it? Please?"

"Fine… call me tonight" Brooke whined rolling her eyes at Haley. How did she end up getting herself into these things?

"You're the best Brooke thanks"

"Now go talk to Nathan… he thinks you changed your number because he called and a guy answered"

"Right… have fun" Haley smiled clearly in a happier mood. It made Brooke want to gag… Haley was the one with the issues and she was smiling… and here Brooke was going to work with snotty children… something about this just didn't seem fair.

"Sure…"

The children's home was only a few miles away… but in traffic it took Brooke and Lucas 30 minutes to get there. In which time Brooke managed to explain to Lucas at least 30 things that could go wrong with this day. Lucas was starting to think that Brooke didn't so much hate kids, as much as she was afraid of them. Now that he thought about it, other than Jenny Lucas had never seen Brooke around a baby or a kid. And even with Jenny, Peyton was always there doing most everything. It was definitely going to be an interesting day… especially since Brooke was wearing a Juicy sweat jacket, which would probably be ruined for ever in the first hour. But the way Lucas saw it, there were some life lessons Brooke had to learn on her own.

Once they were there Brooke took a deep breath and grabbed Lucas's hand. She was acting like they were walking into her own funeral or something… he'd actually never seen Brooke this un-sure of something. The whole place wasn't what either of them had expected. It actually wasn't THAT bad. Neither of them would have wanted to grow up there, but at least it looked like they're were toys around…

"Brooke Davis and Lucas Scott?" A woman from the front desk asked seeing Brooke and Lucas walk in. As soon as Lucas nodded to tell her yes, she ran over with name tags for them.

"Sorry we're late"

"No problem, we're just glad you're here… we're so under staffed right now. We'll stick you two with the 2-year-old group. We only have 5 right now… all sweat hearts, follow me"

"Me and you against five 2 year olds? That's worse than 5 Tims" Brooke whispered. This wasn't going to be fun… at all.

"Now the names are Irving talks non stop, He was left here when he was 1, Anges and Archie are twins… watch out for them, they bite. Milton's a loner… and Horace doesn't say a word"

"It sounds like we're in there with a bunch of 80 year olds"

"We try to make sure no child here has the same name… and so sometimes that means giving the poor things, older names" The woman said sadly. Brooke couldn't imagine being stuck with a name like Milton or Horace… even for a boy.

"No girls?"

"Horace… she's the tiny one with the long brown hair and the green eyes. She's really distant though… doesn't connect well with other people. Cute little girl though…"

"You named a girl Horace…" Brooke asked in total disbelief. That didn't seem possible, it actually almost made Brooke want to cry… just the thought of having to go through school named Horace…

"She's been here since she was 3 days old. This old man brought her and told us her mom was a whore and her dad was an ass…"

"That's the worst thing I've ever heard"

"Brooke… she's kidding" Lucas laughed rolling his eyes at his gullible girlfriend. He was proud of her though… so far she was doing a lot better than he had expected.

"Oh…"

"Here we are… Horace will be excited to have a girl in the room, the last 3 volunteers have been guys. Archie…get off the table, good luck you 2"

"How long are we here for?" Brooke asked watching the wild little boys run around and scream. And then there was Horace, a tiny little girl with the greatest hair Brooke had ever seen on a kid. It was long with light soft curls… and with her green eyes. She could be a model or something. She was sitting all alone in the corner of the room, hugging a stuffed pink pony.

"8 hours"

"Oh joy… Hi Horace"

"I guess she doesn't talk either" Lucas sighed deciding to go get 2 of the boys off the table. These people must have been seriously desperate to leave him and Brooke in here alone with 5 kids like this.

"Ok then… first order of business, my name's Brooke, you can call me Brooke"

"I Orus"

"Lucas! She cant even pronounce it… ok, I don't like Horace… lets call you Bella… can you say Bella?" Brooke asked totally thrilled that she had gotten the little girl to say something… this was a lot easier than she had thought.

"Ella"

"Buh- ella"

"E-lla" Horace repeated. Apparently she didn't do the B thing.

"Ok then… Ella, we'll call you Elle for short, now what's your name?"

"Orus"

"No… Elle, ok? Cause its prettier, lets try again… what's your name?" Brooke asked again.

"Or…Elle"

"Good job Chick"

"Brooke… you cant just change her name" Lucas whispered almost laughing. Only Brooke would try and change a 2 year olds name.

"Too bad… I just did, next order of business, clothes… it looks like the 80's threw up and then they dressed her in it"

"Ok… we'll while your thinking of your famous toddler designs, wanna help me with the boys?"

"Nope… I don't do the boy thing, that kid Archie just ate his booger" Brooke gagged. That definitely had to be the grossest thing she'd seen in a really long time.

Nathan, Haley and Peyton sat together in Starbucks… in complete silence. Nathan had had the brilliant idea that they go hang out like they used too… just minus Brooke and Lucas. He figured without Brooke and Lucas, they'd actually have more time to talk and catch up… he'd been totally wrong. Haley was a nervous wreck… Peyton seemed completely pissed at Haley… and if he wasn't mistaken they were both fighting for his attention. It was like sophomore year all over again.

"So Nathan you'll have to come see this gym close to me, they've got the best basketball court I've ever seen" Haley said continuing her talk about Yale. She hadn't really gotten to tell them everything that had been going on lately and it was good to catch up.

"Really? Sweet"

"How'd you find out about it Haley?" Peyton asked glaring at Haley. Nathan was totally confused…

"Oh… you know some of the girls in my classes have boyfriends who go"

"Really… so you don't"

"Not right now no…" Haley said starting to wonder if Brooke had told Peyton.

"So your not seeing that guy you were talking about?" Nathan asked, starting to get interesting in they're little chick fight.

"The one I saw you with outside of here last week"

"He's just a friend"

"Do you kiss all your friends like Brooke and Lucas kiss?" Peyton asked giving Haley an even worse glare.

"He's just a friend now…"

"Uh huh…"

"Cat fight…" Nathan sighed under his breath. He was starting to wish maybe he had just brought Haley… or just Peyton.

"Is that why you came today? Because things didn't work out with old guy and you want Nathan back"

"I don't know Peyton… looks to me like you 2 are together anyway…" Haley shot back

"So I think there's a reason we always had Brooke and Lucas with us"

The next 8 hours went by surprisingly fast for Brooke and Lucas. Brooke of course left Lucas to deal with the 4 wild boys all day…while she played with Ella. She actually had a lot of fun playing with the little girl, and Lucas loved kids as it was… so 4 boys was so problem after he had made a make-shift basketball goal. She was actually a little sad to go when the woman came in and told them they were free to go, and she'd see them tomorrow… and every Saturday and Sunday for the next 3 months.

"Ok… kids tell Brooke and Lucas bye bye… and you'll see them tomorrow"

"Bye…" All the boys yelled, none really seeming to care that Lucas was leaving. Ella on the other hand wasn't having any of it. As soon as the word bye came out of the womans mouth Lucas and Brooke both saw the poor little girls eyes swell up with tears.

"No…"

"Horace…"

"We changed her name to Ella" Brooke whispered just so the woman would know.

"Brooke has to go… now tell her bye"

"Nowa…" Ella cried clinging to Brooke's legs. It was breaking Brooke's heart to see this little girl who had smiled and giggled with her all day to be this upset just because she was leaving.

"I'll be here tomorrow… with much better clothes I promise"

"I go"

"No Horace, you have to stay here, now let go or I will give you a time out" The woman said trying to pull the little girl away from Brooke.

"No…"

"You 2 go ahead… I've got her"

"Nowa…" Ella cried finally loosing her grip on Brooke's legs. By now Brooke was ready to cry herself. How was this fair to these little kids… if anything it was going to make it so they didn't trust anyone… she knew from experience.

"Come on Brooke" Lucas whispered taking Brooke's hand.

"Bye Ella…"

"You ok?" Lucas asked once they were outside the room. They could both hear the little girl still crying and he could tell by the look on Brooke's face she wasn't too happy either.

"I think that's the worst thing I've ever done"

"Work here? You looked like you were having an ok time…"

"No, I mean leave that little girl like that" Brooke said still able to hear the crying.

"She'll forget about it in 5 minutes"

"I never did…"

"What do you mean?" Lucas asked completely clueless on what Brooke was talking about. But whatever it was, it hit her hard.

"When my parents used to leave and I'd cry like that for days"

"She's used to it…"

"So was I" Brooke sighed leaning into Lucas's shoulder so he could comfort her. He was always good at that… usually all he had to do was put his arm around her and kiss the top of her head.

"Lets go get some dinner, you'll feel better… then you can rub my back"

"Sore?"

"Someone left me to chase around 4 boys…" Lucas said letting out a big sigh. He was completely worn out.

"You had fun and you know it…"

"Maybe so… but that doesn't make me any less sore"

"We could just totally screw dinner…" Brooke suggested… she wasn't really in the mood for food anymore, she needed something to get her mind off today.

"And do what?"

"Replace the word dinner in my last sentence with each other?"

"Brooke Davis… How'd you get to be so dirty?" Lucas asked laughing. Only Brooke could be so dirty, and still cry in Chick flicks.

"You have no idea…and if you're still hungry we can always incorporate whipped cream…"

"What have I gotten myself into?"

"You know you love me" Brooke smiled wrapping her arms around his neck so she could kiss him.

"Too much I think sometimes" Lucas sighed gabbing her around her waist and kissing her. Bad day or not Brooke Davis could kiss like no other.

"Alright… come on, you've got me craving whipped cream"


	11. Chapter 11

My lovely reviewers! So I'm back in Kentucky… I swear I haven't written in FOREVER! I'm so lucky I have up to chapter 17ish pre-written… but anyway… it seems like I get home, and I end up extraing for like 3 days just to have to come back here… but I love you guys for dealing with my slowness! I hope you all are enjoying this story! I know I am! Thank you so much for all the reviews you all leave! Enjoy this chapter…

The next month passed by pretty fast for everyone. Brooke and Lucas were again inseparable, spending as much time as possible together. Which wasn't easy with class schedules and Brooke's clothes. But they did have their nights together, and weekends volunteering. It had become almost normal now to wake up on Saturday mornings early to get there. She even found herself dragging Lucas out of bed some mornings. The 2 twins Anges and Archie had been adopted out leaving Brooke and Lucas with Ella, Irving, and Milton. And since Brooke still refused to have anything to do with the boys… it was usually just her and Ella while Lucas tried to construct a basketball team consisting of him… and two 2 year olds. Brooke had gotten pretty attached to Ella over the past month. Where she used to dread coming to volunteer, she actually looked forward to coming now and bringing Ella clothes and presents… basically trying to spoil the girl rotten and piss the staff off.

Time was passing fast for Nathan, Haley and Peyton too. Nathan and Peyton had been swamped with projects, papers and exams before the semester ended and Christmas break started. Haley and Peyton were at each other's throats constantly about Nathan, always sticking Brooke in the middle… which was part of the reason she tried to avoid them all together. And poor Nathan was completely oblivious to the fact that he had 2 girls that were totally into him. Now here they all were, all dreading that trip back to Tree Hill. 3 weeks back in North Carolina… with family. For Peyton it meant her and her dad, doing their usual Christmas. Avoiding Christmas carols, specials and cards… and pretty much just hanging out and catching up. For Haley… it meant her, all her brothers and sisters, and her parent's crammed in a crowded RV park laughing, talking and fighting. For Nathan, it meant being stuck between Deb who was struggling with staying sober, or Dan dragging him to numerous political events and forcing him to smile and act happy. And for Lucas… it meant his mom, Keith, grandparents, and luckily Brooke. He had to admit the fact that Brooke didn't really get along with her parents was a major plus for him when it came to holidays. He had to have someone there to save him from hormonal Karen, anxious Keith… and his grandparents.

For Brooke Christmas had never been some huge happy event. In fact… it seemed like every Christmas when she was younger involved her mother throwing something glass at her dads head, and her dad storming out Christmas morning before she even got to open her presents. And since last Christmas, she and Lucas were still fighting over the Chris Keller situation… this was going to be her first Christmas with a traditional… well at least functional family, and no matter what Lucas said she was still excited.

"Home… wow" Brooke said, at a complete loss of words walking into the café hand in hand with Lucas. The whole place was completely re-done… in terrible taste. It was actually hurting her eyes to look at the mauve walls and table clothes. Karen's café had all of sudden turned from hip cool hang out… to some hoity toity restaurant.

"What the hell"

"Lucas!"

"Hey mom…what happened to" Lucas started but was completely taken-aback just seeing how big Karen had gotten in the past month. This was a lot to handle… especially around Christmas.

"I did a little re-modeling…"

"I see…"

"Lucas Eugene!" Brooke heard someone shriek from the other end of the café. Then she saw where it was coming from… an older woman… not completely old, maybe early 60's. But to be her age Brooke had to admit… her outfit wasn't bad.

"Grandma…"

"You've gotten so big! And whose this young lady?"

"This is Brooke"

"Eugene… Eugene look! Don't they look in love?" Dorothy asked stepping back to admire Brooke and Lucas. Brooke could see Karen in the corner rolling her eyes at little at the situation. At least Lucas's grandma seemed to like her.

"Dorothy stop embarrassing the boy"

"It doesn't embarrass him… believe me" Karen sighed walking past with a tray.

"Come over here and talk to me sweetie… Eugene you take your grandson and catch up, Karen isn't she just a pretty little thing?"

"That woman…"

"How long have you and Lucas been together?" Dorothy asked sitting Brooke down beside her at an empty booth.

"On and off for about a year"

"Now is he a gentlemen to you? I always tried to teach him things when we came down, how to really treat a lady"

"He is…" Brooke smiled telling the complete truth.

"He isn't one of those no sex before marriage types is he? Karen swore she'd make him one but I told her he'd never get a lady if he was one of those guys…"

"No…"

"Are you gonna marry him?" Dorothy asked barely letting Brooke answer. Brooke was completely shocked and speechless. She didn't know there was anyone out there who was as blunt as her when it came to asking questions.

"I-.."

"Don't worry… I wont tell him… Guys don't know that girls always know before they do. When I met Edwin I knew he was the one after one date… of course I didn't tell him… so… are you?"

"Yes" Brooke said blushing a little. This definitely hadn't happened before. She'd barely even thought about the idea of marrying Lucas… and here she was telling his grandma she was.

"When did you know?"

"I was naked in his car…"

"Now that's what I'm talking about…" Dorothy smiled. This whole conversation was making Brooke wonder how Karen had turned the way she had. Of course Karen hadn't always been like this, it was a resent development since She had married Keith.

"I barely knew him… I actually don't think I'd said 2 words to him… and so he came, and got in the car and gave me this smile… of course that was before he saw I was naked… but as soon as he got in I thought 'I'm gonna marry this guy' and I was so freaked out for like a week…"

"That must be why you make Karen so nervous…especially the way he looks at you, Karen hadn't even told me Lucas was bringing a girl, but when he introduced you, the look in his eyes said it all. You're lucky Brooke… I always hoped my daughter would find a man who looked at her the way he looks at you… instead she found Dan Scott's penis"

"Personally I'm glad she did…"

Lucas tried to balance talking to his grandfather, and watching Brooke and his grandma talk at the same time. His Grandma Dorothy could be a little… blunt and there was no telling what she was saying to Brooke. But then his grandpa wasn't exactly beating around the bush either.

"Is she good in bed… she looks like she's good in bed" Eugene whispered winking and nudging Lucas in his bad shoulder. This was definitely up there with his top 10 most awkward moments.

"Grandpa"

"She's wearing a low cut top which means she isn't a prude… and I saw you 2 kiss before you came in here… you don't stick your tongue that far down a prudes throat without her biting it off."

"How do you know I'm even sleeping with her?" Lucas asked figuring it couldn't be but that obvious. It wasn't like they were on top of each other on the kitchen table for everyone to see.

"You don't date a girl like that and NOT sleep with her… plus you are ½ Dan Scott"

"She's good in bed ok… now stop before my mom hears"

"Like classic good… or kinky good" Eugene asked raising his eyebrows, and making Lucas wonder why he couldn't just have normal grandparents…

"Grandpa…"

"I'm an old man… let me live vicariously through you kid"

"She's great though isn't she?" Lucas asked trying to get off the sex topic…

"I wouldn't know, your grandmother wont share her… she did blush when you put your arm around her. You'll marry that one if you know what's good for you. Just don't get her pregnant… not until her body starts to go on its own… I'd hate to see a figure like that go to waste. Not saying I don't want great grandkids now… I'd sure rather have them than deal with your mother spawning little Keith Scotts… you could always adopt or something"

"You really don't like Keith do you?"

"He rubs me the wrong way… and drinks all my Jack, speaking of… you, me tonight… guest bedroom… we'll chat with some Jack…" Eugene asked knowing good and well Lucas still wasn't 21. Not that that seemed to matter in this town.

"I'm not telling you about Brooke and I's sex life"

"It was worth a shot"

"Ok… dinner's ready…" Karen yelled. Lucas figured she was getting annoyed with her parents… she always did when they were here. Which was probably why he only saw them like twice a year.

"I like your grandma…" Brooke whispered sitting down beside Lucas at the table. Of course Karen had gone all out… cooking everything imaginable as usual. Brooke had missed her cooking though.

"Hey… ok you 2 no whispering…"

"Luke, Brooke… its good to have you back. How's volunteering going?"

"Good… there is the coolest little girl there… her name is Ella, well actually her name was Horace… but I changed it to Ella" Brooke started but as usual Karen interrupted.

"You changed her name?"

"She's only 2…"

"I know they must love you there Brooke…" Karen laughed sarcastically. She had missed hearing Brooke's crazy details about everything… how she could take an entire conversation and get it almost completely off subject.

"Yea… not really"

"So… who wants to hear baby names?"

"Just kill me now…" Lucas sighed leaning back in his chair. This is what he hadn't been looking forward too… at all. He was still adjusting to the fact that his mom was pregnant.

"Personally… I like Lizzie or Lynn"

"All L's mom?" Karen asked cringing at the names her mother had just suggested.

"They go with Lucas"

"Any idea's Brooke?"

"I'm naming my children Isabella and Tristan… but you can't have those, by the way Lucas if we have kids… those are their names" Brooke said patting Lucas on the knee. She was trying to lighten him up, but after she had said that figured talking about their future children's names wasn't helping much…

"Ok… and that's the end of this conversation"

"Karen she didn't say they were having kids now… calm down dear" Dorothy laughed at how nervous Karen acted at the thought of Brooke and Lucas even talking about children.

"Ok we'll I've got to go meet Peyton. We've got to go take care of your Christmas present, I'll call if we're running late…"

"You have her calling you if she's going to be late? You better be getting that girl something good…"

"I have no idea what to get her" Lucas said completely serious. He'd thought about it for days and still had nothing. He'd even called Peyton for idea's but all she had come up with as 'You had better make it good'.

"What? Lucas…"

"She's hard… I figured jewelry… but I got her earrings and a necklace over the summer"

"That leaves an engagement ring boy!" Eugene said as if he were stating the obvious. Lucas had even thought about that… But then had quickly decided they were both way to young and it would just complicate things even more.

"Dad!"

"Eugene they're 19… what you do is propose on her 21st birthday…"

"Mom…" Karen sighed. This conversation was killing her. The thought of her baby getting married was enough to make her heart stop. It wasn't even that it would be to Brooke, it was just the idea in general. If anything the fact that it was Brooke gave her some comfort. At least she knew he'd have someone who loved him as much as he loved her… of course she could never tell Brooke or Lucas that.

"But for now… you need something sweet, sentimental… something that shows her you really love her"

"That used to be what sex was for" Eugene muttered

"I've got just the thing"

Brooke and Peyton waited anxiously for Mouth at the rivercourt. Brooke hated waiting here, scared that Lucas was going to show up to play ball at any minute and kill everything. Not to mention it was freezing out…Of course that's when Brooke had the brilliant idea to do cheers to keep warm. At least that would keep them entertained until Mouth finally got there.

"Poor guy" Peyton sighed interrupting what Brooke thought was a completely fabulous cheer. She could tell Peyton was getting ready to get all broody on her, she had that look. Which sucked since it was after all Christmas eve eve. This just wasn't aloud. But Brooke figured she'd at least humor her today… so by tomorrow, Christmas Eve, she'd have it out of her system.

"Who"

"Mouth…"

"Why is he a poor guy?" Brooke asked completely confused. Had she missed something?

It was very possible considering the time she had been devoting to Lucas, school, work and volunteering lately. There just wasn't time for it all anymore.

"He's going to be heart broken when he finds out about you and Lucas"

"Why?"

"He's so in love with you" Peyton laughed stating the obvious. She saw Brooke's smile drop for a second, then heard her sigh.

"I can't even look at him like that…"

"I know…"

"Its like… can you imagine him na-.." Brooke started but regretted it as soon as she thought it…

"Brooke don't…"

"Ew… too late…Lucas… Lucas… Lucas naked… No! YOU don't think that! You think Nathan…I'll think Lucas"

"New subject?" Peyton laughed as Brooke covered her eyes and shook her head, obviously still trying to get certain images out of her head.

"Please…"

"So what exactly is this present?"

"It's a car…" Brooke smiled, her usually huge excited smile. Peyton on the other hand almost let her mouth drop open…

"A car!"

"Not just any car! It's the greatest car… his red corvette, he loved that car and he had to give it back to Dan after the whole falling out thing… and he still whines about it…plus… we had soooo much fun in this car, so I got it back"

"How?" Peyton asked not believing what Brooke was telling her. What happened to giving your boyfriend a shirt or shoes?

"Keith and Deb helped… Keith told Mouth to bring it here, Lucas's favorite place… and I'm gonna put a big bow on it… and you guys are going to stand guard until I pry him away from the grandparents and Karen…"

"Stand guard?"

"It might get stolen or something… besides you and Mouth can talk and catch up… please! Please Peyton… it'll only be for like 3 hours…" Brooke was doing her best to get Peyton to agree. Besides… Peyton seriously owed her for all the favors she'd been doing her lately with school and Nathan.

"Fine… but you so owe me"

"Uh huh… definitely… Here's mighty mouth now"

"Where's Lucas?" Mouth asked as he stepped out of the corvette. Apparently Keith hadn't filled him in on the whole situation.

"Surprise for him… the fun we are going to have in this car! Ok… I'll call you guys in a little while… Thank you SOO much! I love you both!"

"I take it their back together?"

"She didn't tell you?" Peyton laughed, not really surprised though. Brooke knew how Mouth felt about her, and being Brooke she never intentionally tried to hurt anyone… so the fact that Brooke hadn't called Mouth ecstatic about her and Lucas didn't come as a big shock to Peyton.

"I only talked to Keith…"

"I'm happy for them, I mean it's a lot better than them pining away for each other, plus he makes Brooke really happy, and she deserves at least that"

"I know, it just sucks for the other people who love them too"

Lucas sat and talked to his Grandma while he waited for Brooke to get back. He had always been pretty close to her… even though he didn't get to see her very much, she'd always understood him. Plus she was his grandma, and the fact that she liked Brooke so much was a big plus. Unlike Karen who was just annoyed with the fact that Lucas was dating anyone right now.

"So you really love this girl?" Dorothy asked changing her and Lucas's conversation from slightly funny to completely serious. What she was about to do, she wouldn't do for just anyone… so she had to make sure that Brooke was really the girl for Lucas before she did it.

"You know I do"

"Is this the one you cheated on?"

"Like 3 years ago…" Lucas said not believing people still brought that up.

"Ok well still, that'll make what your going to give her that much better… it may give your mother a heart attack because she always wanted this but…" Dorothy trailed off pulling out a jewelry box and flashing a ring it Lucas. It wasn't like any ring Lucas had ever seen… every ring he had ever seen always had just diamonds on it. But this one was silver, or maybe platinum… he wasn't sure, with 3 equal sized jewels on beside each other. The middle one a light blue, with what he guessed was a diamond on each side. There was no telling how much that ring had cost… especially given the clarity of the jewels.

"Wow…"

"Now before you say anything… this is not an engagement ring. Your grandfather gave it to me as a promise ring many years ago. He said it was a promise, that no matter where our lives may take us… together or separate, I'd always be the one. His one and only… Its got 3 stones standing for your past, present, and future. All women love their engagement rings… but to me this ring was always more special. To me it meant that he had faith in our love, and that was enough. Plus… this can also be a little promise you wont cheat on her again…"

"If this means that much to you then…" Lucas started, but Dorothy didn't let him finish. He felt so bad taking his grandmothers ring if it meant this much to her, but then she was a lot like Brooke when it came to getting an idea in her head, and not stopping until she had her way.

"Lucas, I've been married to you're grandfather a long time now, any promises we've made are set in stone… or have already been broken and forgiven… now take the ring and some tissues… she's probably going to cry, us girls tend to do that"

"Thank you… so much"

"Well someone's gotta look out for you 2… and don't worry about your mom Luke, she'll come around. She's just got a lot on her plate right now… now hide that ring… here comes Brooke" Dorothy smiled winking at her grandson before Brooke came bouncing in.

"Hey Boyfriend… ok so since I love you so very much… and I don't want Mouth and Peyton to die of frost bite, I've gotta give you your present tonight" Brooke smiled wrapping her arms around Lucas's neck to kiss him. Not her usual short kiss either, she made sure this one was an extra good one, the kind what made his cheeks turn pink. She was so excited about this… and they were so having sex tonight. So she was in an extra good mood.

"Brooke that's cheating" Karen said rolling her sons pink cheeks.

"No it's not… its Christmas Eve Eve… close enough"

"Then what are you going to give each other on Chris… don't answer that"

"Ok…" Brooke shrugged knowing she was driving Karen crazy. Especially since she still had her arms wrapped around Lucas and her forehead to his. Karen was almost like a mother to her… maybe that's why it was so much fun to drive her crazy.

"There are just something's you don't do…"

"Uh huh… sure, like eating Spaghetti O's for Christmas dinner? Oh wait… I always did that because the cook was off and my parents were too lazy to cook"

"You can't wait 2 days?" Karen asked forcing Brooke to finally un-pry herself from Lucas's neck.

"Not unless you want to unthaw Peyton and Mouth for Christmas dinner…"

"She's insistent" Lucas said not sure what to tell his mom. He wasn't telling Brooke no, especially since she was so excited about it.

"I know… she lived here for 4 months"

"Come on…"

After finally dragging Lucas out of the café, Brooke walked with him to her car, where she proceeded to pull out her blindfold… which was bought for completely different reasons, but she figured it would work here too. This way he couldn't see from across the river what was over there and totally ruin the present. After finally getting him to the car, (It had taken a while since Brooke didn't exactly know she was supposed to warn him before there were steps) She drove him to the river court where Peyton and Mouth were sitting in the car, playing really terrible music.

"Ok… 1 sec… Peyton!" Brooke yelled trying to get their attention. They were so into the music they didn't even see her drive up… which was totally killing everything.

"What?"

"What are you doing?"

"We got cold" Peyton laughed turning the music down

"You blind folded him?" Mouth asked seeing Lucas in Brooke's car.

"It seemed appropriate… and kinda kinky at the time… before he fell down the first 3 steps"

"Good job Brooke"

"You're so funny Peyton… you guys can go now" Brooke laughed opening Mouth's door. She was trying to get them out of there before Lucas peaked.

"Thank god"

"Thank you so much you guys"

"Can we at least take your car back? So we don't have to walk?" Peyton asked remembering that they didn't even have a car to get home with.

"Of course… only if Mouth drives, just let me get Lucas out of there first"

"Lucas… good luck" Peyton laughed once Lucas finally made it out of the car, only tripping once this time.

"Ugh I hate you both… go…" Brooke giggled waiting for Mouth and Peyton to leave.

"Did they just take the car?"

"Um… no?"

"So you brought me out here to kill me?" Lucas asked knowing good and well they had just taken the car.

"Wow… you're as funny as Peyton!"

"I'm sorry…"

"Just close eyes…" Brooke whined positioning him where he needed to be.

"Closed"

"Ok…1, 2, 3" Brooke said taking off his blindfold.

"You didn't…"

"I did… how much do you love me?"

"You have no idea… how" Lucas asked utterly shocked. Brooke Davis never seized to amaze him, especially when it came to stuff like this. She never gave generic presents, she always found out exactly what you wanted, and made sure it happened.

"I have my connections… now I never have to hear you whine about this car again"

"I love this car"

"I know… which is why I spent 2 weeks tracking and begging and lots of other things to get it here" Brooke smiled as he hugged her.

"You are the best"

"I try… and… it's even warm inside, thanks to Peyton and Mouth"

"Ok… its your turn, come on" Lucas said taking her hand and leading her towards the car.

"In the warm car? Sweet…"

"I was going to make you go in a scavenger hunt for this… but suddenly I'm not feeling so mean"

"Well then, my plan wor… oh my god" Brooke didn't even get to finish her sentence before Lucas pulled out a jewelry box and opened it. Talk about the shock factor. Not to mention it was THE most beautiful ring she had ever seen… she was completely speechless.

"Before you cry… it's not an engagement ring, I'll be a good guy and let you pick that one out… it's a promise ring, I've told you a million times you're the girl for me Brooke Davis… I don't ever want to be with anyone else, this is just to promise you that"

"I'm still gonna cry" Brooke choked up as Lucas slipped the beautiful ring on her finger. Her hands were shaking, and she was doing everything she could to not totally loose it. If she was like this now, she couldn't imagine what she was going to be like when he did propose one day. After Lucas put the ring on her finger he brushed her hair out of her face, and kissed her. The romantic way he always did that made her lips quiver and her whole body go numb. The kind of kiss that lasted until one of them reluctantly pulled away. This time it was Brooke, to look at her ring.

"You like it?"

"Lucas, I love it. How did you even know blue diamonds were my favorite? I wasn't going to tell you that until it was time for the big ring…"

"I…I know these things" Lucas smiled just pretty much going with whatever she said. He had actually had no idea she liked blue diamonds… or even that that was a blue diamond in the ring. He was starting to wonder how much that ring on her finger was actually worth.

"And its platinum… Lucas Scott if you spent all your money on this, ok its forgivable because it's so fabulous"

"I didn't spend all my money… I have my ways…"

"I love you and your ways… Wait until I show Peyton and Haley… I wonder if Rachel's in town…" Brooke squealed looking down at her ring, and imagining the look on Rachel's face when she saw it.

"You show Rachel the ring, I'll show Nathan the car"

"You know, the only thing that go with blue diamonds are blue diamonds Lucas… My engagement ring, wedding band… all have to match"

"I knew this was a bad idea" Lucas sighed, but was still smiling at how excited Brooke was about this. Although she was right… this was going to end up costing him an arm and a leg.

"Its ok… we'll find you a good job, now comes the fun part"

"Showing it off?"

"No see that comes after, first I think we have to consummate this promise ring… it's the only way it works" Brooke whispered crawling into his lap so she could seriously kiss him. This time it was less romantic, more tongue down the throat, I want to rip your shirt off kiss… which was exactly what she did.

"Is that so?"

"Uh huh… and while we're at it… we can chrision the car too, I hear its even better than make up sex…"

"Well if that's the only way to make the ring work… and to make… sure the car's… ok" Lucas said between them kissing, and trying to get her foofy little shirt off.

"I think it is"


	12. Chapter 12

Hey guys! So… I'm posting this chapter, but after this, it MIGHT be a little while (Meaning maybe like a week and ½) before I post the next one. Right now we're filming episode 3.20… and working A LOT. Which means 12 hour days and no time to write… but filming ends April 5th… so after that, haha I'll be free to write all the time… so I just wanted to let you guys know, just in case I don't get a new chapter up until around the 22nd or something… But hey, think of it this way… the less I post now, the more you guys will have to read over the summer while OTH isn't on… So ENJOY this chapter and as always, THANKS for all the reviews!

"Brooke! Brooke… wake up… why are you on the couch?" Peyton asked walking into the living room to find Brooke hanging off the couch, almost on the floor. Not that she was surprised… if she were in Karen's position she wouldn't let them sleep in the same bed either…

"Karen wont let us in the same bed…"

"Ok… guess what!"

"What?" Brooke yawned feeling a little bit annoyed with Peyton. Here it was Christmas eve morning… early. And she and Lucas hadn't even gotten to bed until 3:45.

"Holy crap…" Peyton gasped catching a glance of the ring of Brooke's finger as she wiped her eyes. Completely forgetting what she was even going to say.

"How fabulous is it?"

"You've got that boy so whipped"

"It's not even the engagement ring…" Brooke whispered looking down at her ring. It looked even prettier during the day.

"Damn… anyway! Jake's in town"

"What!"

"I know! His mom called me… I'm going to see him later, I have to look hott" Peyton grinned getting back on topic. Brooke was definitely shocked. They hadn't heard from Jake in almost 2 years… and all of the sudden he was back? This couldn't be good… at least not for Peyton. She'd finally almost gotten over him… she was happy, and she and Nathan were so close… at least to something.

"What about Nathan?"

"What do you mean what about Nathan? Nathan has Haley, I have Jake and you have Lucas… that's how's its always been"

"So true…I'm so happy for you! Now if we can just get Naley back in the sack" Brooke sighed not really in the mood to argue or spoil Peyton's good moon. She deserved to at least enjoy the thought of her and Jake for a little while… and who knows. Maybe it would work this time.

"What should I wear?"

"Um… well nothing always works for Lucas… ask him about last night"

"Woah…" Peyton laughed guessing from the ring… they had probably had sex last night.

"In the car… and some other places that probably weren't the greatest idea…"

"Other places?"

"We tried sneaking in the window… fell on the counter and it seemed like a good place at the time" Brooke whispered giving Peyton a look that said 'Don't ever try this'. Even Brooke who usually didn't regret all the crazy things she and Lucas did was starting to wish the kitchen counter hadn't been there… it always seemed to work so well in movies…

"Karen catch you?"

"Hints why I'm on the couch"

"That bad?" Peyton cringed trying to imagine how bad that one had been.

"I think I lost my bra in the river…"

"You were in the river"

"Actually no… that's the weird thing" Brooke sighed still trying to figure out how it had gotten there.

"Ok… me Jake…"

"Right… grow some boobs and you can wear my clothes"

"Not all of us were blessed with DD's Brooke" Peyton laughed as Brooke stuck her tongue out at her. It was like being home, back in Tree Hill made them all completely different people. Like they were in high school. It wasn't until now that Peyton realized how much college had really changed them all.

"Hey… they can be a curse"

"I bet Lucas would beg to differ"

"Beg to differ what?" Lucas asked walking in just as Peyton finished her sentence, he looked as tired as Brooke.

"You like Brooke's boobs"

"Yea I'm gonna go get some breakfast"

"That Asshole!" The front door opened, and there was Nathan… looking as pissed off as ever. It made Brooke wonder if The Keller was back in town.

"How's it going Nate?"

"I went to see Haley this morning… you know to take her a present… and she was making out with this old guy!"

"What is going on in here!" Karen yelled bursting into the room. It sounded like a hoe down in there with all the laughing and yelling and cussing…

"Um…Lucas likes my boobs, Peyton's going to see Jake naked and she doesn't have boobs, Haley's kissing old guys and not Nathan, and Nathan smells like…cheap cologne and I'm pretty sure he probably likes my boobs too, and I think I have a splinter in my ass…"

"How'd?"

"Picnic table…" Brooke whispered, trying to figure out why that had seemed like such a good idea at the time too…

"I don't even…after last night I've seen and heard just about enough of you guy's nakedness, making out and" Karen started but Brooke really wasn't in the mood to hear this lecture again… not after the one they had gotten last night.

"I told you I was not naked! I had on my fabulous ring…"

"It's Christmas eve!"

"And I told you that too! Lucas and I were celebrating… our love for everything Christmasy…" Brooke smiled as Karen shot her a death glare.

"On my kitchen counter"

"It got in our way"

"Can we get back to Haley here?" Nathan asked apparently not the least bit interested in Brooke and Lucas's issues with Karen… or Peyton and Jake.

"Its ok Nate… if she was kissing him that means he doesn't like her, she said she'd only stay with him if he wasn't serious about her. Personally I think she's still way into you"

"Right, is that how you show Lucas you want him? By sticking your tongue down old guys throats?"

"No… I stick it down his, but that's totally besides the point" Brooke said trying to explain Nathan what was going on… without letting him know what she had been in on it.

"Why?"

"Because we're together… see Nathan that's when 2 people who are in love, are in a relationship with each other, and not other people"

"Did that make any sense to anyone?" Nathan asked. Now Brooke had Karen and Nathan glaring at her…

"Shut up, I've got splinters… the pains making me devious"

"Delirious?"

"See… I can't even talk… Lucas, make them stop picking on me!" Brooke whined trying to get Lucas out of the kitchen so he could at least he on her side in all of this.

"Ok, Nathan… go talk to Haley, Peyton go see Jake… Lucas you're here with your grandparents today and Brooke and I are going shopping" Karen finally said, annoyed with all the people in her house this early in the morning.

"Wh…"

"I've got some last minute shopping to do and you and I need to catch up, now go get ready"

"Ok…" Brooke sighed giving Lucas a pleading look. Christmas was supposed to be about fun and hanging out with her friends… not a stressful day of Christmas shopping with psycho hormonal Karen. But she decided not to argue on this one… instead just go take a shower.

"Mom…"

"Lucas calm down… when Brooke lived here we talked all the time"

"She wasn't my girlfriend then…" Lucas said, know that that… plus the fact that Karen was all over the place was why she was taking their relationship so hard.

"Even more of a reason we should go shopping now, are you scared I'm going to kill her or something…"

"I wouldn't be surprised…" Lucas muttered giving up…

"I heard that… go make breakfast for your grandparents"

"I was going to take a shower…"

"Brooke's in the shower… Lucas, damn it! Do you 2 think of anything else? One day you're going to have responsibilities! There wont be time for any of this… And if you keep this up you're going to have some un-wanted responsibilities… and I'll tell you that neither of you are ready for that" Karen said giving Lucas a stern serious look. The kind he used to get when he'd done something really bad.

"Mom… I don't need the sex lecture… and we have 2 showers…"

"Right"

Brooke spent the rest of the morning shopping with Karen. It actually wasn't as bad as she had thought it would be. As it turned out as long as Lucas wasn't around they got along pretty well. Karen told her all about the names she was thinking about for the baby, and how she was worried about how Lucas would adjust… it wasn't until they met up with Mouth that things got a little interesting. They hadn't even planned to shop with him… but Brooke and Karen both felt bad for him seeing him try to shop for his family alone.

"Look at those cute little clothes…" Karen smiled looking into the window of one of the baby boutiques downtown. It was full of flowery little pleated dresses and pants that made Brooke's head hurt… who in their right mind would ever do that to a child?

"I can't wait to get married and have kids"

"Having Lucas was the happiest day of my life…"

"I want at least 5" Mouth laughed, knowing he was going to have to find a good woman to give him that many.

"I wanted 7 when I was younger, what about you Brooke?"

"I… I'm not really a baby person so much… I mean you have to get fat, and buy all these clothes you'll never wear again… plus you can't drink… and I hear it's not pleasant to give birth…" Brooke cringed at just the thought. The looks on Mouth and Karen's faces weren't good ones. But she hadn't expected them to be, she'd actually been avoiding this conversation with Karen for a while now, knowing it wasn't going to be a good one.

"So you don't want to have kids?"

"Not really, no…"

"But you know Lucas wants them right?" Karen asked. This worried her, a lot. No… she'd never seen Brooke as the motherly type, but she'd always assumed if she married Lucas she'd grow into the idea… but from the sound of things, that didn't seem like something that was going to happen.

"Yea, and just because I don't physically want to have them doesn't mean we cant like… adopt one day… long, long from now"

"But it's not the same Brooke, there's something about having your own baby that… I don't know… carrying it makes you love it that much more"

"It didn't make my parents love me… besides, I'd hate to think of what things would be like for all of those kids Lucas and I work with, if everyone thought like you. Because you feel the need to get fat, and have your baby… those kids get punished." Brooke said, trying to be as nice as possible about this. She didn't see what the big deal was… Lucas knew this, and he was fine with it… so what was Karen's problem?

"Have you and Lucas even discussed this?"

"He knows how I feel… I'm not going to bring a baby into this world that I'm not even sure I'd want… its not fair anyone involved, I wont be my mother Karen"

"So… how's volunteering going?" Mouth asked feeling how intense this conversation was getting. It was definitely time for a subject change, anything to keep Karen from scratching Brooke's eyes out.

"You should see Lucas with the little boys… its hilarious. He's trying to teach them to play basketball. And there is the coolest little girl there… I named her Ella, and I am so in love with this kid. She's like 1, and has the greatest hair ever… plus she's so tiny, and as much as it sucks working there, every time I walk in she gives me this huge hug and smiles… probably because I bring her like… everything she could ever want… but I swear this kid is like awesome"

"Where are her parents?"

"Some kind of huge stock holders in their early 40's with 3 grown children… I guess they just didn't want to do it a 4th time, and when she was born she was early… so no one really wanted a baby that was going to be stuck in the hospital for another 8 weeks… so she ended up there" Brooke sighed. Every time she thought about it, it made her sad. The fact that these people had had more than enough money and resources to keep her, and they still left her.

"So… you love this kid because she has good hair, but you couldn't love one that you and Lucas made together"

"Karen… I didn't say that. Why are we even talking about this? I'm 19! I cant even think about kids right now… besides, last time I checked you weren't exactly thrilled with the idea of Lucas and I having kids… ever"

"I just think you 2 are getting too serious, and you have no idea what the other one wants, Brooke he gave you a ring!" Karen yelled grabbing Brooke's hand and showing her the ring.

"Yes… and he also told me I could pick out my own engagement ring… like years from now! Karen we aren't stupid… we know we aren't ready for marriage or children or anything like that… right now we're just trying to live our lives and be happy without worrying about everything else… maybe you should try it, like you used to"

Lucas sat with Nathan at the kitchen table waiting for him to speak. They'd been like this for 10 minutes… so far, nothing. He wasn't even sure if Nathan had gone back to talk to Haley… if he had, things weren't looking good, and if he hadn't, maybe that was a good thing. Chances are Haley wasn't going to sugar coat it if she was with someone else. The only reason she was doing this was because of Nathan's date with Bevin over the summer. After that Haley had been doing pretty much everything possible to make him jealous. Whether it was because she loved him or not… Lucas didn't really even care anymore. It was getting old.

"She said they were just having fun" Nathan finally said, not looking up from the table. At least that was a start, although it was very un-Haley like… just having fun.

"Kind of like you and Bevin had fun?"

"I guess, I wasn't doing that to hurt her though… she said we could see other people!"

"Dude… did you not learn anything from Brooke's 'We should see other people' plan?" Lucas asked seeing that Nathan had made the same mistake he had. Maybe Brooke had been too much of an influence on Haley last year…

"You guys are together aren't you?"

"Yea, only because we both decided to forget all the crap the other one had done in the past and start over"

"I was reading this thing that said you shouldn't marry your high school sweetheart, that you cant grow as a person if you stay with the person who knew you then…" Nathan said, still looking down at the wooden table.

"Do you really believe that?"

"I was thinking about it… but I mean you and Brooke are completely immature when you aren't together, whiney and jealous and… you definitely weren't growing as people apart. And I didn't change until I was with Haley… and Peyton, she didn't start thinking about other people until Jake…"

"Maybe we were all just lucky to find who we loved in high school?" Lucas asked, trying to think of anything to make Nathan feel better. He really wasn't good at this… when Brooke was upset… all he had to do was hold her and let her cry, even with Haley growing up… that's all it took, but Lucas had never had to comfort a guy before.

"Or maybe that writers on crack… whatever it is, I want some, looks like they made it home alive"

"That's always a good sign…Hey mom, where's Brooke?"

"Making Mouth unload her stuff, sometimes I think that girl has no life skills" Karen laughed looking out the window as Brooke coaxed Mouth with bags and more bags of stuff she had bought.

"Hey… I taught her how to mop"

"And how many times has she actually done it?"

"The important thing is she know how… and she can order out… that's all I ask" Lucas laughed while Karen just shook her head at him.

"So when you're married and your house is a wreck?"

"We'll hire a maid?"

"And you're broke?" Karen asked, even though she knew neither of them would be… together or apart.

"We'll call you…"

"Yea… I've gotta go, thanks Luke" Nathan said getting bored with Karen and Lucas's conversation.

"Talk to Haley"

"Whatever"

"Or… do what my mom taught me, the best way to get over someone, is to get under someone else" Lucas laughed knowing that would get under Karen's skin, and maybe at least lighten her up a little bit.

"Lucas, how is it you'd forget to clean your room, make the bed and be home on time… but you still remember that?"

"Thanks Luke… Maybe I'll do that"

"See mom, it could be worse…" Lucas said as Nathan shut the door behind him.

"At least Haley knows how to mop"

Peyton sat in Bluepost with her drink at the bar. This had to be the worst day of her life? How could she let herself get excited over Jake? Jake… the man who'd had to leave her twice, she should have known it couldn't work… it that in the time he'd been gone that he might find someone else… it just hurt that he had. Seeing him as she walked up to his yard. Standing on his doorstep with Jenny… and the girl beside him. She didn't even look like Jake's type… blonde straight hair, rail thin, boobs. She looked so superficial. So… not Jake. And the way she played with Jenny… and hugged Jake before she left… Peyton felt like someone had stabbed her in the heart. All that time waiting for him, dreaming of him coming home… and he'd found someone else. Peyton heard someone sit beside her, but didn't bother to look up. It was probably just some guy who was having just as sucky of a Christmas eve as she was.

"Things didn't go well I take it" Nathan asked. He figured he'd find Peyton here if things hadn't worked with Jake… and since he'd seen Jake at the park with Jenny… alone. He had taken that as a pretty clear sign.

"Hey…um, I don't really want to talk about it"

"Me either…"

"Shouldn't you be home with Dan… or your mom?" Peyton asked, wondering why Nathan was at a bar on Christmas Eve. Of course she knew why… but she didn't expect him to resort to Alcohol… especially after everything with his mom.

"Shouldn't you be with your dad?"

"I wasn't in the mood to explain my mood"

"Yea… same, you should go talk to Lucas… he's pretty helpful" Nathan laughed rolling his eyes at the wasted hour of Lucas advice. He knew Lucas was trying… but someone who had everything he wanted really couldn't help someone who had nothing.

"Really?"

"No… Sorry… sarcastic isn't working for me today, his best advice was for me to get under someone else"

"Funny… maybe he should have taken his own advice while he and Brooke were broken up" Peyton laughed. Lucas was so full of it sometimes. He tried to help… but when it came to him actually needing it… he was completely hopeless.

"Lucas doesn't take advice, he just gives it"

"Jake was with another girl"

"I'm sorry Peyton…" Nathan sighed, figuring it had been something like that. He couldn't see Jake hurt Peyton on purpose… he wasn't that kind of guy.

"Yea… I should have figured"

"I guess its time we both move on…"

"I don't know what I would have don't without you this year Nate…It reminded me of when we first started dating… before I was suicidal and you were an ass" Peyton laughed. She was trying to think of a way to thank Nathan without being too cheesy… and that's all that had come to her.

"At least we made it past those stages…"

"Wanna get out of here? Its Christmas Eve, we should be able to find something to do right?"

"Yea"

Brooke pranced into the kitchen to find something to eat, and as usual Lucas was in his favorite chair at the kitchen table… reading. Not that it surprised her that was Lucas. He was so into his book that he didn't even notice her when she came in. It didn't really bother her, she just found it funny that he that into a book… She tried slamming the cabinet a few times to get him to look up… but there was nothing. Then she tried the obviously fake cough a few times, and when that didn't work she left the room and came back in… what the hell was he reading that was that good?

"If you come back in one more time and slam the cabinet, that might get my attention" Lucas said still not looking up from his book. He wasn't really reading though, just thinking… but pretending to read was the only way he could get people to leave him a lone while he cleared his head.

"You suck…Mouth said bye, and next time you can carry my bags in"

"How much did you buy?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out… lets go do something" Brooke whined sitting in his lap. She was bored out of her mind and really wanted to get out of the house before Karen started cooking…

"Like what?"

"I don't know… Its Christmas eve… something fun, lets go on a walk"

"Its cold…" Lucas sighed dreading going outside… but he knew he was going to end up going anyway, Brooke had that desperate 'please take me look' on her face.

"Its supposed to be, Its Christmas eve, come on… you can tell me all about your Christmas's when you were little, and we can be totally after school special, hold hands and everything… it'll be fun, please? We can find mistletoe and be totally romantic…" Brooke whispered trailing off as she kissed him.

"I like mistletoe…"

"Me too… come on, before your mom decides she wants to sing Christmas Carols…"

"She mentioned that?" Lucas asked, suddenly the cold seemed a lot more tempting than having to sing Jingle Bells.

"A few times…"

"I'll get my coat"


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13! Haha... this chapter is funny if I remember right! Enjoy!

"See? I told you this would work" Brooke whispered, and stopped kissing just long enough to get his shirt off. As luck would have it, the heat was broken in their dorm and it was freezing, and Brooke being bored and horny had come up with the perfect plan to stay warm. Especially now since Nathan and Haley were trying to work things out… again and Nathan was no where near campus

"Who needs heat?" Lucas asked un-hooking the last latch on Brooke's lacy bra. They were already both out of breath and sweating. At least they weren't under Karen's roof anymore, and Nathan wasn't there to bug them.

"Wait…"

"What?"

"Class…" Brooke whispered, stilling managing to talk with him kissing her neck, she really didn't need to miss anymore classes. It seemed like she hadn't been to a class in weeks…but then how was she supposed to get to class with Lucas practically on top of her?

"You're hot, I think you have a fever"

"Uh huh" Brooke agreed running her fingers down his muscular back… there was always class next week and right now his fingers running through her hair felt too good to give up and go listen to some old guy try and tell her how to make clothes.

"Yea"

"Wait…"

"Brooke…" Lucas sighed letting Brooke talk.

"Lets try not to leave more than 2 hickeys on my neck since I have a fashion show tomorrow" Brooke whispered pulling him back down to kiss her. She couldn't relive the hickey incident of last week, especially tomorrow.

"Ok…"

"HI! Oh My God… ew" Faith shrieked from the doorway. That figured. Days of peaceful sex were over, infact the way things were looking lately… the days of all sex were over, at least until their next vacation.

"Do people not knock!"

"Faith"

"EW… Brooke Davis's boobs… ew…" Faith gagged covering her eyes

"Well then get out!"

"Everytime" Lucas whined handing Brooke her bra

"I don't think we're ever having sex again"

"I just wanted to say hi… you know, since I did call and you said you'd be here"

"Good job Luke" Brooke smiled sarcastically patting Lucas's shoulder.

"I totally forgot"

"Everyone dressed? Ok good"

"Guess I'm going to class after all, call me later?" Brooke asked giving Lucas one last kiss on the cheek before getting out of there. She wasn't really in the mood for Faith's Brooke bashing today…

"Of course"

"Lucas… I thought you 2 broke up" Faith whispered once Brooke had left. Going to college in Florida had definitely put Faith out of the relationship loop.

"We did"

"So what's this? You're bored and horny?"

"We got back together" Lucas said putting his shirt back on. He wasn't really in the mood for Faith to be here either. It all ended up being just pointless arguing anyway.

"Why?"

"Because we love each other?"

"Whatever… I still can't see how you can be with someone like her Lucas, I've tried… but I cant" Faith sighed shaking her head and giving Lucas a disappointed look. He felt like he was in the room with his mother.

"Someone like what?"

"Someone who got you arrested, and is more interested in sex than class, Lucas she'll probably leave you the first sign of some rich old guy with money who offers her a shiny car"

"Why did I let you in here again? Faith I'm not doing this. You and my mom can hate Brooke all you want too, I don't care… and just so you know she's got her own money" Lucas added, feeling like that part needed to be said.

"Right… her fashion line… so instead of leaving you for some old guy… she'll leave you for like France… lets just go play ball."

Brooke sat with Peyton at Starbucks messing with her Chai Latte that she wasn't in the mood to drink. It was cold, wet and her lips were completely chapped, and not from the winter air either. Being cold in the dorms for 2 weeks had left Brooke and Lucas nothing to do but make out… and now she was paying the price. Not to mention classes had were crazy, she had sketches due in 2 days and she had a pile of classwork sitting on her bed that she hadn't even started on. At least she had her letter. Todays was short and too the point… which was fine. After the stressful past few days a simple I love you was all she really needed to read… and all she had time for.

"What's that?" Peyton asked as Brooke carefully put the letter back into its envelope.

"My letter from Lucas"

"You guys still do that?"

"Everyday" Brooke smiled taking a sip of her latte. It did make her feel a little less stressed out.

"What's this one say?"

"I love you"

"That's it?" Peyton asked rolling her eyes at how smiley Brooke was over a simple I love you. Especially since she was getting ready to spend the entire day with Lucas anyway…

"Yep"

"What's the point?"

"The point is that we still take the time to do it, when we both get too busy to write the letters… then we know something isn't working, what's so funny?" Brooke asked getting annoyed with Peyton. 1 minute she was rolling her eyes at her, the next laughing….

"When you talk about him your cheeks turn pink"

"The way yours do when you talk about Jake"

"Hey… can I ask you something?" Peyton asked changing her tone to serious. She'd been meaning to ask Brooke about this for a while now, it had just never seemed like the right time…

"Sure"

"When you had your pregnancy scare with Lucas… what went through your mind"

"Hate. I hated him… I hated you, I hated the thought of a baby and the fact that if there was one he'd feel stuck with me because I had his kid, then it was revenge… I started thinking maybe he deserved to be stuck with me, and hoping that meant he couldn't be with you… that sort of thing" Brooke almost laughed. That had been exactly how she'd felt give or take a few minor details.

"It's a good thing you weren't pregnant then"

"It eased up some after the first few hours. I mean I saw Lucas with Karen and when you're where I was then… I started thinking that maybe a baby wouldn't be terrible, ya know? Not if it loved me and I loved it… and so I started filling my head with crap about how I could make it work, then when I found out I wasn't… I was a little sad I guess, but I got over that one really fast"

"I slept with Nathan" Peyton blurted out causing Brooke to choke on her latte. She hadn't been expecting that one.

"What!"

"Christmas Eve"

"PEYTON SAWYER!" Brooke yelled not caring if all of starbucks heard her! What the hell was wrong with Peyton these days.

"We were drunk"

"I think I'm gonna throw up"

"It gets worse" Peyton sighed figuring she should tell Brooke everything now, rather than later.

"If you tell me you slept with Lucas too I will rip those blonde curls out of your pretty little head"

"No… That girl Jake was with… was his cousin"

"How do you know?" Brooke asked trying to stay calm long enough to let Peyton talk. From her tone it didn't sound good… at all.

"I went and saw him Christmas day… and slept with him too"

"Wow…"

"I don't know what's wrong with me Brooke!" Peyton finally said shaking her head. Everything just seemed so confusing now… even more than it had in high school if that was possible.

"I don't either! You're not pregnant are you?" Brooke asked hoping that wasn't why Peyton had asked her about the pregnancy scare so out of the blue.

"I was safe both times"

"Good… ok… but Nathan and Haley"

"Nathan and I convinced each other afterwards to go talk to Jake and Haley…" Peyton said explaining that that was why Nathan and Haley were getting along so well again.

"Right… well then, and I thought I was stressed about tomorrow, all those stupid stuffy people there judging my clothes and me…"

"I like your clothes Brooke"

"Me too" Brooke laughed. She did like her clothes… she just hoped everyone else would too.

"Lucas doesn't"

"What!"

"Oh wait… maybe he said he didn't like you in clothes…" Peyton laughed sticking her tongue out at Brooke.

"Ugh I hate you P. Sawyer"

"I'm starting to get jealous of this Ella chick, you don't hate her"

"She doesn't pick on me… well she actually can't exactly really talk, but whatever" Brooke giggled shrugging her shoulders. At least Ella didn't lecture her on clothes or money.

"Alright, I've got to get to class… you?"

"I missed mine… I had to take a shower, I smelled like sweaty Lucas"

"Ew…" Peyton gagged trying not to picture what Brooke had been doing earlier that morning.

"At least I don't smell like sweaty Nathan and Jake… It'll be ok Peyton, its college… drink, sleep around, one of us needs too"

"Lucas isn't into the drinking and sleeping around?"

"We… 'sleep' enough as it is… and usually skip the drinking part just because sex is more fun" Brooke smiled sticking her tongue out at Peyton.

"Ok then… call me later"

After getting about 10 frantic phone calls from Brooke, Lucas decided it was time to say screw basketball with faith, and take some drastic measures to calm Brooke down. She'd done a lot of show's over the past year but none were as important as this one and she was completely freaking out. So he did the only thing he could think of that would take her mind of the show and put it on something else. Back at the dorm Brooke had sketches and fabric strewn from one end of the table to the other looking like she was going to panic. If his plan didn't work then they were both screwed.

"Hey babe…" Lucas said trying to find his bed under all of the mess. Brooke looked so flustered and nervous he wasn't sure that his plan was going to work.

"Lucas, I'm not going to make it"

"You're gonna do great"

"No… no, nothing fits any of the girls… some things aren't even finished, we're never having sex again if this doesn't go well. Plus I have to do all these interviews and Peyton slept with Jake and Nathan and yea, that I wasn't supposed to say…" Brooke started realizing what she had let slip. This always happened when she was stressed out.

"Brooke… you've got to calm down"

"Lucas I cant! I'm gonna fail and be poor and live in some RV with like 10 kids because we wont be able to afford birth control and"

"Come on" Lucas sighed dragging her out of the room as she babbled on about her future.

"What are we doing? Lucas I can't leave"

"Yes you can… Faith call Peyton and Haley… they'll know what to do, this happens everytime"

"No it doesn't, Lucas where are we going!" Brooke whined leaning against Lucas as they walked. She was going to kill him if this was something completely stupid and time wasting.

"To the park"

"Why?"

"Because Faith and I kinda kidnapped Ella for the day" Lucas whispered pulling Brooke out the double doors to the car.

"Lucas! …wait, so we're alone with a toddler for the day, this is supposed to un-stress me how?"

"Are you thinking about you know what?"

"No…" Brooke said, for a split second trying to remember what 'You know what' was

"See…"

"How'd you manage to kidnap her anyway?"

"I had to give Sheryl my number" Lucas muttered under his breathe hoping Brooke maybe wouldn't catch the whole sentence.

"Lucas!"

"It worked!"

Peyton and Haley met at Lucas's dorm room after Faith's call. Peyton wasn't really sure how to act. She didn't know if Nathan had said something to her about what had happened… or if Haley was still completely clueless, which was what she was hoping. The place was a mess as usual. Brooke was great at designing clothes, getting an event together and showing her stuff off… but when it came to actually getting things ready… she was a nervous wreck. Which meant Peyton and Haley had to fix every thing up all nice and neat.

"Aw… I love this picture of them" Haley smiled showing Peyton and Faith a picture of Brooke and Lucas from high school Lucas had framed on his nightstand. It always made her smile, just seeing how happy they looked gave her some hope for her and Nathan.

"Can we say lust much?"

"What fun's being in a relationship if you don't have lust?"

"Is that what you and Lucas had when you cheated?" Faith asked. She'd never heard the full story of how all that had happened.

"No… that's called OCD mixed with"

"Peyton… are you ok?"

"Yea… fine, I just got a little dizzy" Peyton said sitting back against Nathan's bed. That's when the terrible feeling hit her. Nathan… Jake… dizziness…

"You do look a little pale… you want some water?"

"No… I, oh god"

"What?" Haley and Faith both asked completely clueless

"Whose in the mood for a drug store?"

Brooke walked hand in hand out to the car with Lucas to find Ella sitting in the back seat of her bug… in what looked like the grungiest car seat she'd ever seen. Obviously it was something from the Children's home. At least she was dressed descent and her hair was brushed for once. Brooke guessed that was also Lucas and Faith's doing just because even brushed… it looked interesting. Lucas drove to the park while Brooke sat in the backseat with Ella… explaining all about the fashion show and how it worked… like Ella was actually comprehending any of it. Brooke didn't care… even if she didn't understand, she also wasn't telling her how hard it was going to be, or how risky it all was.

"Hey… open house! Stop!" Brooke whined as they passed by a huge old house for Sale. This was the perfect way to get her mind off of everything…

"Why? Brooke I'm not buying a house"

"No… Lets just go look! Please! Its so much fun… you convince the person you want to buy it the whole time and then pick apart everything and leave! Please… and we'll be really realistic with Ella! She can be our daughter"

"Brooke" Lucas sighed not liking the way this was sounding… at all. Brooke's plans like this always had ways of back firing and getting them both in trouble, and as much as he loved her, he wasn't sure he was ready to go to jail today.

"Fake names… Oh, we should be like those old timey people! Like we don't use our first names… you're going to be, Master Bates… get it? And I'm Mrs. Bates… just to seem realistic, and Ella… she's Fa-mali… but spelled like Female"

"3 words, you need help"

"I can always go in as the single mother on the run who killed her ass hole boyfriend for not playing her dirty little game…" Brooke whispered in his ear, then kissed it. She knew that'd change his mind.

"10 minutes"

"Sweet! Come on Ella Bella, I mean… Female"

"Brooke, there are a lot of people here, maybe we shouldn't" Lucas started as they walked up t he pathway and he saw all the people gathered eating and laughing.

"Hi… I'm Kathy Johnson"

"HI Kathy! I'm Mrs. Bates… My husband Master Bates"

"Excuse me?" Kathy asked looking completely shocked and disgusted at what Brooke had just said

"My husbands name…Master Bates?"

"Of course…"

"And this is our Female" Brooke smiled pointing to the sleeping toddler on her shoulder.

"She's beautiful… I can see the resemblance, and you are interested in the house?"

"Very…"

"Just a few quick questions then… Ages?" Kathy asked. Lucas could tell the woman seemed suspicious. Neither of them looked old enough to be married, have a kid and be able to afford a house this big.

"36, and Mater Bates here is 40"

"Uh huh… and occupation?"

"He's a male escort, and me… I'm retired" Brooke smiled completely calm and cool about the whole thing. It was taking Lucas everything he had to keep a straight face.

"From what?"

"Um… female escorting? After I had the baby, and Mater Bates here and I weren't sure it was his… we decided I should retire"

"This is a very exclusive area" Kathy said sounding polite but giving Brooke a death glare.

"Uh huh… well we make friends fast"

"Do you now?"

"We like to do certain… favors for our neighbors, to show them we care" Brooke smiled patting Lucas on the ass.

"Ok… come on Mrs. Bates" Lucas whispered walking Brooke back down the walkway before Kathy had a chance to respond.

"But honey… I want this house"

"And I don't want to go to jail"

"Bye…" Brooke smiled waving friendly to Kathy who was still standing behind them looking pretty pissed off.

"Did you see that poor woman's face? She's probably calling the cops right now"

"You worry too much Luke, I do like that house though"

"What happened to living in a penthouse? I was getting used to the idea" Lucas asked helping Brooke get Ella into her carseat without waking her up.

"I don't know… I mean it'd be fun and all… but part of me wants a house with a big backyard where we can have dogs and kids and get dirty"

"Dogs and kids? What happened to only fish?"

"I don't know… I like Ella, I mean I don't care when she gets chocolate on my shirt or does other completely gross stuff. I think our skinny dipping adventure in the fountain was actually a good thing, we should do it again" Brooke giggled kissing him.

"You just wanna see me naked"

"Uh huh… like I don't see that everyday in the shower… but seriously, we should talk more about this"

"About what?" Lucas asked knowing exactly where this was going. And he didn't like it. It wasn't like he didn't want to be with Brooke forever, but he was a guy and talking about their future at the age of 19 was just a little bit nerve wrecking.

"Our future"

"You're so lucky I'm not one of those guys who runs at the first word of future talk"

"That's just because you know you want to have babies with me…we'd have hot babies, Luke you're sweating" Brooke giggled seeing she was making him nervous. She was making herself nervous… but she'd never felt like this before. Like she actually wanted some of these things… at least not seriously until now. Maybe it was because she was getting older, or because she liked Ella so much… or maybe she was just to that point with Lucas where it was comfortable… whatever it was it was creeping her out a little, and apparently him too.

"Baby talk and 19… don't really mix"

"Yea… I'm with you totally"

"But as long as its just talk… I mean I could get used to it" Lucas smiled taking her hand as they drove. He didn't want to make her feel like they couldn't talk… they'd been down that road before and it hadn't ended pretty.

"Me too… we'll talk"


	14. Chapter 14

So season 3 of OTH is wrapped!... well at least for extras... its sad, but it gives me A LOT more free time, so that means more writing and more updating! Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

"Knock knock… Lucas, we made it for the…" Karen started as she opened the door to Lucas's room. Of course Lucas was no where to be found, and Brooke was asleep in his bed. She wasn't really surprised… nor did she really care at this point.

"Hi… Karen"

"Isn't there a rule against this?"

"Uh…possibly… I don't usually read the rules and… oh shit Lucas… don't come out naked" Brooke whispered to herself trying not to imagine how awkward that one would be…

"I give up… Come here… are you ready for today?" Karen asked giving Brooke a big hug. At least she was dressed, which was more than Karen had expected.

"Nervous… but so ready"

"That's my girl"

"Wow… you look so… good" Brooke said shocked at how big Karen had gotten since she and Lucas had seen her last. But big really didn't seem like the right word to use, especially since Karen was being so nice… so Brooke decided good would work better.

"3 more months before little Amy"

"It's a girl?"

"Don't tell Lucas…" Karen whispered, she wanted to surprise Lucas with a sister. Not have him dreading one, like she figured he was. Being an only child for 19 years had really done a number on her son.

"Mom… Keith, knocking is good" Lucas sighed, coming out of the bathroom in his boxers. Knocking must have been one of those things parents forgot to teach their kids in Tree Hill… because no one ever did it.

"Sorry… we didn't expect to find Brooke asleep in your bed, we were going to surprise her… you look good, healthy… Brooke are you taking care of him?"

"Best I can" Brooke smiled. This was turning out to be an ok morning… even though Karen was here, ½ her stuff wasn't finished thanks to Haley and Peyton's sudden exit yesterday, and the fact that she and Lucas were exhausted from talking all night.

"I'm gonna go pick up some breakfast… you guys want anything?"

"The usual…"

"I'm fine" Keith sighed sitting back on Nathan's bed. Obviously tired. Lucas hadn't thought to ask Keith lately how Karen's pregnancy was affecting him.

"I'll ride with you, Keith can stay and keep Brooke company"

"Great! You can totally try on all my slinky little tops I don't have ready for today"

Lucas walked downstairs to the car with his mom. She was in a really good mood today for once… she actually seemed happy to see Brooke… and hadn't even started the lectures by the time they got in the car. Lucas wasn't sure if this was a good thing or not. Sure it was nice she was being so nice and friendly… but on the other hand, that usually meant something was wrong.

"Brooke seems calm" Karen sighed trying to fit into Lucas's 2 seater. This car definitely wasn't made for pregnant women.

"You should have seen her yesterday… I thought she was going to have a nervous breakdown"

"She'll do fine… I never worried about Brooke when it came to this sort of thing, you on the other hand"

"I have no idea…" Lucas answered before she could even ask the dreaded question. 'What are you going to do with your life?' she was asking it more and more frequently lately, and the truth was, he had no idea.

"I know, but you will… so how's dorm life?"

"Cramped…"

"I don't even want to know how you 2 fit in that tiny bed" Karen laughed until she started to actually think about them in bed together.

"It's not comfortable…"

"God… I never thought I'd say this, ever… but I've been thinking about it and maybe you and Brooke should look into an apartment"

"Mom… are you ok?" Lucas asked giving his mom a weird look. It was strange enough she was being so nice to Brooke today…but now she wanted them to live together?

"Lucas I've given up on pretending that she's just some fling until you meet the girl you're going to marry. If you are going to marry Brooke then you should at least live with her before, that way when you do get married you aren't completely blindsided like Keith and I were. Dating is one thing Lucas but living together, sharing everything… that's a whole new experience. I think it would be good for you 2"

"You realize what your saying right?"

"Yes…and I think this will either make or break you 2. I'd rather you 2 do this and know for sure before you make any drastic decisions. And this does not give you permission to marry her any sooner… or get her pregnant, even though I know that works both ways… just talk to her about it." Karen smiled trying to re-assure Lucas that she was on board with this. She just wasn't going to tell him she had ulterior motives. Not bad ones… she just really needed a back up place, especially now with the baby coming.

"Are things ok with you and Keith mom?"

"Don't worry about Keith and I…We just jumped into a lot really fast. I wish we'd had time to live together, learn each others little routines and bad habits before throwing marriage and a baby into the picture."

"Little routines and bad habits?" Lucas sighed, knowing Karen was talking about Keith's drinking. He'd been fine when Lucas had left at the end of the summer… but my Christmas things definitely looked as if they had gone downhill. He guessed it was the stress of marriage and a baby… but still…

"Keith gets up every morning about 5, drinks a glass of milk and when he comes back to bed his breath smells terrible… every morning… and at night before he goes to bed, he watches ½ an episode of South Park, scratches his nose and falls asleep. Doesn't Brooke have little things like that?"

"Nothing that bad… she wont sleep unless my arm's around her waist"

"That's not bad… Lucas that's sweet, it probably makes her feel secure" Karen smiled. She could see that… Brooke had always been a very touch person.

"Who'd of ever thought Brooke Davis liked to cuddle…"

"I used to spend a lot of time worrying about you with her, wondering if she was making things harder for you then they actually had to be. It took me a while to realize it wasn't about her making it harder for you, it was you making it easier for her. Do you think Brooke Davis would be in college right now if she hadn't had a reason?"

"I don't worry about her, she'll do great in whatever she does as long as she applies herself and likes it" Lucas said completely confident with what he was saying. After all how many freshman college students had their own clothing line?

"Peyton and Haley on the other hand… I worry about"

Brooke showed Keith each individual shirt, skirt and dress as he dozed in and out on Nathan's bed. It was kind of annoying considering Brooke had never had anyone fall asleep while looking at her clothes. She found herself making noises on purpose to wake him back up every 30 seconds or so.

"Brooke those really are amazing" Keith finally yawned… even though Brooke was only half way finished showing him everything she had out.

"I know… and thank you, now if they'll just fit those stupid models…I told them eating was wrong but who knows if they listened" Brooke laughed. Then there was a twist of the door knob. She really hoped it was Lucas back with food. Just because she didn't want her models to eat, didn't mean she couldn't. But to her surprise it was Peyton… looking like even more on a wreck then she did.

"Brooke can we talk?"

"And there's one of my favorite models…Sure… Keith's here but he like's gossip"

"Actually… I'm going to nap a little while, Karen hasn't been sleeping" Keith yawned closing his eyes back. Brooke wasn't sure how Karen lived with that man. She loved him and all… but he just seemed kinda needy.

"Sure… ok P. Sawyer spill, and fast because we have like 5 hours before we're on"

"I… I just wanted to explain about yesterday"

"How you, Haley and Faith totally abandoned me? Totally forgiven" Brooke said actually kind of glad that they had all bailed last night. It had given her time to calm down and do everything herself

"Good… because I need your help now, and you cant tell Lucas"

"Tell Lucas what?"

"I'm pregnant" Peyton whispered so keith couldn't hear. Brooke could barely hear… or else she didn't want to hear. Peyton pregnant! Somehow Brooke had actually expected it a little. That was just Peyton's luck. Here Brooke had been having sex almost all year, and nothing. Peyton has it twice in 2 nights… and snap. She's pregnant.

"What! Peyton! No! Oh my god, sweetie, come here!"

"I don't really know what to do"

"What do you want to do?" Brooke asked wondering if this was what Peyton wanted. She had never seen Peyton as the motherly type… especially now.

"Brooke, I don't even know whose it is"

"Right… well who knows?"

"Just you, Haley and Faith" Peyton said quietly, making sure not to add Keith to that short list.

"Haley knows!"

"She took me to get the test"

"Does she know there's a chance it's Nathan's?" Brooke asked trying to figure out for the life of her why Peyton would even tell Haley! Of course Haley would say something about it to Nathan… not on purpose of course, but still!

"No…"

"Ok then…hey, its gonna be ok! Worst comes to worst, I could totally be aunt Brooke! Who says either of them even has to know right now? At least until you figure some stuff out" Brooke smiled hugging Peyton. She was trying her best to be supportive even though she wasn't sure if Peyton knew exactly what kind of a mess she was actually in.

"Thanks… ok, now I've got to get ready for a fashion show"

"Peyton… you don't have too, if you'd rather"

"Nope…I need to keep my mind off of this…"

The rest of the day went on completely flawless for once. For once Brooke had everything completely ready to go on time… everything fit the 'models' and believe it or not Lucas actually made it on time with Karen and Keith. There were a few really good competitors but in the end Brooke's stuff had great reviews, which was a relief to her. The last thing she needed was for her clothes to suck like her grades. After talking to a bunch of random reviewers, and snagging Lucas away from all the little blonde hussies trying to steal him, Karen and Keith went back to the dorm to lay down and Lucas decided to take Brooke out to dinner to celebrate, and discuss his mom's idea with her. He was actually nervous. He'd never even thought about living with Brooke… of course he knew it was going to happen at some point… but some point had always seemed so far into the future he hadn't given it any thought at all really. Although, as Karen had reminded him… they had technically lived together before, of course he wasn't sure that really counted considering they weren't together and it was only for a few weeks. Lucas decided to take her somewhere pretty casual, that way it didn't seem like some huge deal and make everything awkward. So of course that meant Chili's.

"How'd you know I wanted a cheeseburger really bad?" Brooke asked finally finishing her food. She was so glad she'd finally gotten past that stage of being afraid to eat in front of Lucas. Of course it had only lasted like… a week when they first started dating, but still. She didn't know how some girls did it.

"I'm good like that…"

"How cute were your mom and Keith when people asked them about the baby?"

"I'm worried about them…" Lucas sighed, pretty much making Brooke want to slap him. If he got this nervous about his mother and Keith having a baby, then how was he ever going to make it through having his own kids… which would hopefully be hers too, but she didn't mention that part.

"Why?"

"Well Keith more than them really"

"Hey… no brooding tonight" Brooke said changing seats in the booth. It was impossible to talk to Lucas sitting across from him… besides how was she supposed to sit 'with' him if he was on the other side of the table?

"Sorry… so I think my moms on drugs"

"Why?"

"She thinks we should live together" Lucas said figuring now was as good of a time as ever to bring it up. But Brooke didn't seem that shocked or anything after he said it…

"She better mean 'we' like you and me, and not 'we' like you and her… because I so have you next"

"She means like you and me"

"Your mom… Karen Roe… Scott thinks we as in you and me… should live together" Brooke laughed not believing what she was hearing.

"Yep"

"Well Lucas, you know they say you should always listen to your mother no matter how old you get…"

"This doesn't freak you out, even a little?" Lucas asked seeing how un-phased Brooke was by this. She seemed totally calm and cool about the whole thing, and it was making him nervous.

"What? Your mother thinking we should live together… or actually living with you?"

"Both?"

"Lucas… it just means a bigger bed, more privacy and I don't have to run back to my room every morning to get clothes… some days, we wont even have to get dressed" Brooke whispered in his ear. She was definitely liking this idea, in fact she couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it before.

"You've put way too much thought into this for me to be just mentioning it now"

"And… it kinda worries me you haven't… Lucas, I know you're a guy, and you guys do that thing where you don't look into the future, not to mention the fact that you and change don't exactly get along… but we don't have to make this some big deal, its not like we're the ones getting married or having a baby…"

"It doesn't worry you we're 19?" Lucas asked, still worried and letting it show.

"It didn't worry you at 17 to tell the whole world you wanted me and only me… why should this worry me now?" Brooke asked climbing onto his lap. Who'd of thought that one day she'd be the one re-assuring him about their relationship.

"So you really want to do this?"

"Only if you do"

"I do" Lucas smiled feeling a little better, especially now that he knew this wasn't going to throw them for a loop.

"And… I get to decorate"

"Of course…"

"And we're getting a dog" Brooke said excitedly. She hadn't even thought about that! She'd always wanted a dog… but her parents were completely anti-animal.

"No Dogs…"

"Yep… we need a dog"

"Only if it's a presentable dog… no poodles or Chihuahua's" Lucas sighed knowing he wasn't going to win this one… or anyone from now on.

"I like Chihuahuas… fine…"

"And it has to have a decent name"

"Gucci" Brooke said without a pause. She'd had this planned for years.

"We're not naming our dog Gucci"

"Wanna bet? Fine… what do you have in mind"

"Sherlock" Lucas said trying to think of anything better than Gucci.

"No"

"No?"

"Nope… I don't want one of those stupid little nosy sniffy dogs that smells crotches… and that's what dogs named Sherlock do" Brooke said patting his shoulder.

"Because dogs named Gucci… they"

"Are high end dogs…"

"I'm scared to hear what you'll want to name our children one day" Lucas sighed shaking his head at his girlfriend.

"Prada and Dior"

"You're kidding…"

"Of course I'm kidding… come on, lets get out of here" Brooke whispered kissing him. She wanted to start on this like, now.

"Back to my mom and Keith?"

"Nope… we need to look for apartments because I really want a big bed we wont fall off of"

"Tonight? Brooke… we have nothing for an apartment… not to mention money" Lucas whispered brushing her hair out of her face. She looked beautiful when she was excited.

"Yea… well we'll just have to find one where someone died or something… you know, cheap?"

"Cheap"

"Ok… think of it like this boyfriend… the sooner we have an apartment, the sooner we move in, and you know what you're supposed to do the night you move in?" Brooke giggled getting even more excited.

"No…"

"Have sex in every room"

"Every room…" Lucas trailed off kissing her. This idea of living together was getting better and better.

"Yep"

"So I was thinking one of those with like… a lot of rooms"

"I bet you were…we should probably get out of here before they decide we're doing that whole indecent exposure thing again" Brooke whispered pulling him up from the booth. She really wished they had an apartment now…

"Yea"

"Wait…"

"What?" Lucas asked stopping before they got to the car.

"Actually… Luke, go see you're mom and Keith… I've got some things to take care of…k?" Brooke sighed giving him one last kiss.

"Want me to come…"

"I wish… but I think I need to do this one alone? Call me in the morning?"

"Sure"

Peyton sat alone in her dorm by the window reading some of Brooke and Lucas's sappy love letters. She knew she shouldn't… but they were just too funny, and sweet at the same time. She spent a lot of time laughing at them… and wishing she had someone who cared enough to write to her. You could always tell the difference between Brooke and Lucas's. Lucas's were always very sentimental and cryptic. Full of quotes from dead people mixed with his own words. It made Peyton wonder if Brooke actually knew what he was talking about sometimes. Maybe Brooke did understand them. Either way, Lucas's were always sweet and they made Peyton happy that he was that happy. Brooke's were always the most heart wrenching. Simple and too the point. Until Peyton had actually read some of the letters, she hadn't known exactly what Lucas really meant to her best friend. It showed her a side of Brooke even she'd never seen. It made her wonder how Brooke could write some of that… how she could be so honest… and trust someone so much. Peyton could feel herself starting to cry again, she hated this. Avoiding everything wasn't working, and as usual she'd probably be alone to deal with it all.

"P. Sawyer…" Brooke whispered opening the door to her room. It was dark and quiet as usual.

"Wow… Brooke Davis in our dorm…"

"Hey… are you reading my letters"

"No…" Peyton lied, badly considering she was still holding one in her hand.

"I like reading them too… you ok?"

"I don't know… where's Lucas?"

"With his mom and Keith… We were totally about to do it too, when I realized there was someone else I needed to be with tonight" Brooke smiled walking over to her best friend. In the light by the window she could see the tear streaks down her cheek and neck.

"Cheating on him?"

"With you… come here lover"

"I miss my mom" Peyton cried hugging Brooke tight. She was so glad she was there right now, that Brooke always came through when she really really needed her.

"Aw… Peyt, which one?"

"Either! I don't know… you'd think with 2… I'd have one alive right now when I needed her"

"You've got me…" Brooke smiled hugging Peyton tighter. She could feel the tears swelling up in her eyes too now. It was a really good thing she hadn't let Lucas come like he had wanted too.

"I have no money… no where to live, Brooke"

"Peyton, don't cry! Look at me, if you want to do this, we can make money… and besides, Lucas and I are getting our own place… and I really need another girl around to keep the power…"

"Brooke, I couldn't as you for that" Peyton sobbed. Brooke could feel her shaking as she cried and tried to get words out.

"You didn't, I'm asking you…"

"Won't Lucas care?"

"I think he'll be happy to have you there" Brooke smiled, at least she hoped that'd be the case. After all it wasn't like Peyton could stay here if she decided to have the baby.

"Will you stay here tonight? Like we used too, after my mom died?"

"Of course… I even brought our favorite movie…"

"Clueless?" Peyton laughed as Brooke pulled the beat up old VHS out of her pocketbook.

"What else?"


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15! ok so I just wanted to tell you guys that I am SOO in love with all of your reviews lately! THANK YOU SOO MUCH! They make me want to write more and more... haha! Enjoy this chapter... and get ready for a summer full of them... no OTH all summer... whatever will you do, you'll just have to read this haha Enjoy this chapter!

"Oh Boyfriend… wake up" Brooke whispered kissing Lucas's ear. That always annoyed him, but at least it would wake him up, and it wasn't like she could do anything else with Karen and Keith watching.

"He wont wake up, he tossed and turned all night"

"Aw… did you miss me?"

"Uh huh…" Lucas grunted shaking his head, not bothering to open his eyes as usual. He was cute though, laying there all sleepy with his hair going every which way.

"Ok… well you might miss me a little less when I tell you Peyton's going to live with us"

"What?"

"Don't whine… more rooms" Brooke whispered hoping that might smooth it over a little. But she made sure to kiss him again after she finished, just to put him in a good mood.

"Why…"

"Because it's a secret and I'll tell you later"

"Brooke" Lucas sighed wiping his eyes as Brooke skipped out of the room.

"No Brooke makes you grumpy… ok well I'm going shopping with Peyton, and I wont be back later" Brooke smiled giving him one last kiss and heading out to Peyton. Maybe if she left and let him sleep on it for a whine he'd be a little more open to the idea when she got back.

"Brooke…"

"I think we can survive a few hours without each other, I'll call you, kiss"

Peyton waited out by the car for Brooke to finish with Lucas. She was actually a little nervous. She knew Lucas was her friend and all, and probably wouldn't care. But she also knew Lucas worried about Brooke being insecure with him, and nothing made their relationship more insecure than the thought of her and Lucas. Although it should have given Brooke some comfort knowing that Peyton was pregnant, and it wasn't Lucas's. Peyton still wasn't sure about the whole living together situation.

"Hey Girlie" Brooke smiled meeting Peyton at the car. Brooke couldn't believe Peyton had been standing there for 10 minutes! It was freezing out, at least compared to North Carolina.

"Did he fall for the shopping?"

"I don't think he heard a word… come on, lets go find us an apartment"

"What are we looking for exactly?" Peyton asked wondering exactly how they were going to make this work. Brooke was the only one with any real money… and that wasn't a lot.

"Cheap… with a lot of rooms"

"That's not gonna happen Brooke"

"Well we can try right?" Brooke laughed shrugging her shoulders at Peyton. She was being way to pessimistic about this.

"Remember when we were little, and you always made me play barbies with you?" Peyton asked deciding to go a little more random.

"Yea… You were always married to Nathan and painted your Barbie's hair purple"

"And you were married to Brad Pitt and had all the little Kelly dolls as your love children"

"Oh yes… and they were hott too, until your Barbie went all crazy and came and killed all my children with that army man your dad gave you" Brooke sighed rolling her eyes at Peyton. She wasn't sure if she'd ever gotten to let her family live.

"And you cried like they were actually dead, like you'd lost your children"

"It was sad!"

"You always had to have the perfect family. The mom, dad and kids… the mom didn't work, she stayed home and took her kids to school, the dad only worked for like, 5 minutes and then he was home" Peyton laughed remembering how she'd thought Brooke was crazy back then.

"I was a kid whose parents ignored her, what did you expect?"

"I expected you to be the one to have kids first Brooke, you were supposed to learn and teach me"

"I was also supposed to marry Brad Pitt and move away to a private island with him… have tons of money and all the alcohol I ever wanted too" Brooke sighed knowing that definitely wasn't going to happen. But it didn't bother her so much anymore. She didn't need Lucas to have a private island or billions of dollars. She didn't even need the alcohol. As corny as it was, she really just needed him.

"Now you're with Lucas"

"He kinda looks like Brad Pitt… and we have a bed…"

"I just thought I'd be in love, married… like 30!" Peyton half laughed, half sighed still so torn about what to do. She wasn't even sure if she could do anything now.

"Well, you love me… and in 11 years you'll be 30"

"I didn't want to be Karen"

"You aren't Karen Peyton, and even if you were… look how much she loves Lucas" Brooke smiled trying to comfort Peyton. And it was the truth… Karen had had it rough, but seeing how much she loved Lucas actually made Brooke want that one day. And even though she'd never admit this to Peyton or Lucas, she was actually a little envious of Peyton for having that chance.

"You don't want to like 'accidentally' get pregnant do you?"

"Um… let me think about that, no. Lucas and I are not ready to be parents. We aren't even mature enough to take care of ourselves sometimes"

"Just thought I'd try" Peyton laughed. But she knew the look on Brooke's face. The truth was they had both expected Brooke to be the one in this situation, not Peyton. Even though neither would admit it.

"But we're going to be there for you through all of this… ok?"

"Thanks"

"Ew… this is what we can afford?" Brooke whined totally forgetting their whole conversation as they drove up to one of the hideous apartments.

"At the most"

"I should have stuck with Brad Pitt…"

Lucas finally decided to get out of bed about 12. He'd always figured if he had a night, alone in his bed without Brooke hogging the covers, he'd sleep so much better. That theory was definitely blown. He'd spent the entire night rolling over thinking she was there, only to find… the floor. He'd finally had to get up when Karen and Keith's argument got so loud he couldn't sleep anymore… and after being asked to choose sides, he decided it was time to ignore them and write Brooke's letter. This one wasn't as good the day before, but it wasn't bad… he figured she'd like it. So after finally sneaking away from Karen and Keith, Lucas took the letter to Brooke and Peyton's room to put it on her bed.

"Excuse me, young man may I help you?" A woman asked, sitting on Peyton's bed. The first thing that came to mind was Peyton had another mother… but Lucas guessed that probably wasn't it. She had dark hair, was at least in her mid 40's and was definitely dressed to impress.

"Um… no?"

"What are you doing in here?"

"Leaving my girlfriend a letter…" Lucas said showing the woman the envelope he was putting on Brooke's pillow.

"You're dating Peyton?"

"No… do you know Peyton?"

"She's our daughter's friend… unfortunately" The woman sighed. Apparently she wasn't a Peyton fan.

"You're Brooke's mom?" Lucas asked, completely shocked… but now that he looked at her it made since. She did kind of look like Brooke in the eyes.

"Do you know her?"

"I'm her boyfriend…"

"You must be mistaken…" The woman laughed shaking her head at Lucas.

"Last time I checked…this morning, I was her boyfriend, and had been for about a year…"

"In our last e-mail Brooke informed me she was single, she didn't plan on dating anyone until she met a man with plenty of money to support her and allow her to live comfortably."

"Uh huh, yea I thought Brooke didn't talk to you" Lucas said assuming the woman was lying. From what Brooke had told him about her, she'd say and do anything to get her way.

"E-mail of course when we get the time"

"Does she know you're here?"

"No… I have a business arrangement for her" The woman said very seriously. Lucas found that a little hard to believe… the only business Brooke was interested in was clothes, shopping and more clothes.

"Brooke… Buisness… okay…"

"Do you know where we might find her?"

"Actually… no" Lucas said looking at his watch. He figured she and Peyton would be back by now if they were just going shopping. It wasn't like either of them had that much money to blow.

"Being her 'boyfriend', shouldn't you know where you're girlfriend is?"

"She should be back soon…"

"I knew she was lying in the e-mails. She seemed too giddy not to be having sex, but you know that's what you are right? Just a sex buddy until she meets her lawyer or Doctor" Brooke's mom smiled taking pleasure in what she was doing. She could tell she's worried Lucas, and that's exactly what she'd come here to do.

"I always wondered why she hated you so much… now I know why"

"You talk about her like she's perfect. Do you think she's no above doing anything for the life she wants? The money, class… because believe me son… I know my daughter and she wont have an average life. You may be her boy toy now… but wait until reality hits, when she realizes that she'll actually have to work? The e-mails I have from her say it all. Good luck with that… well, if it isn't Peyton"

"Ah… Mrs. Davis" Peyton jumped seeing Brooke's mom on the bed. This couldn't be good, at all. Especially since she was in the room with Lucas… the Lucas that Brooke hadn't exactly told her mom about…

"Peyton"

"Where's Brooke?"

"Right here… hey… oh" Brooke said, her tone and expression changing mid sentence at the sight of her mother.

"Brooke"

"Mom…"

"This young man claims to be your boyfriend?" Brooke's mom said seeing how far her daughter would go to lie to her.

"What? No… I don't have a boyfriend, he's crazy"

"Brooke"

"Don't make me call security again… come on… out" Brooke whispered dragging Lucas out into the hall. This wasn't going to go well, she could already tell by the look on this face that he was completely pissed.

"What was that about?"

"Long story… what's she doing here?"

"I don't know, and make it a short story" Lucas said as Brooke pulled him farther down the hall so no one could hear the fight that was getting ready to happen

"Lucas, its not what you think…"

"Really? Because it looks like exactly what I'm thinking"

"Brooke…" Brooke heard her mother call from the doorway, pushing Peyton out the door towards them

"Coming… Lucas please, I'll explain later ok?"

"I hate that woman" Peyton sighed patting Lucas on the shoulder.

Brooke listened as her mother went on and on about the troubles she was having with her father, how money was tight again, and how she'd found someone for Brooke that would be perfect. The whole time, Brooke was trying to think of how to explain about her and Lucas, while at the same time worrying that was going through Lucas's mind right now. Actually she knew what was going through his mind… money. And she knew she had to tell her mom about Lucas… she just wasn't sure how yet. She knew exactly how her mom was going to react though, and it wasn't going to be pretty.

"So… that boy" Brooke's mother said after a long pause. She could see the expression on Brooke's face change slightly.

"Lucas?

"Yes… tell me about him"

"He's…" Brooke started but she wasn't even given the chance to finish.

"Not for you Brooke"

"Here we go…"

"Sure if you want to play around, have some fun, but you can't be considering a future or anything with him, and don't lie to me because from the look that he had on his face, that's exactly what your doing" Brooke's mother said sternly, talking to her like she was a 2 year old. It made Brooke wonder where that voice had actually been when she was 2.

"I didn't want to do this until later… but I guess we're going to do it now"

"Do what?"

"I've been dating him for about a year now" Brooke said deciding if she wanted to keep dating him, she'd better tell her mother.

"Of course you have, do you think I was born yesterday? Are you in love with him?"

"Yes"

"Brooke" Her mother sighed shaking her head. It was a rookie mistake her daughter had made, she had almost done the same in college.

"Don't act like you have a say in this, you didn't seem to care in high school when I was out with him all night sometimes"

"Then he cheated on you, am I right? Brooke… he's not for you! How is he going to support you? Buy you things… if he doesn't have money?"

"Why would I want someone who can buy me stuff? So I can throw it at his head when he's drunk? I'm not living that life" Brooke said gritting her teeth so she wouldn't yell. She was 2 seconds away from loosing it.

"So what… you're telling me you want to be with this boy? Marry him, end up with kids, debts, medical bills, and wish for more your whole life? Brooke… that's a mistake and you know it"

"Why are you even here? I thought we agreed I didn't have to physically see you if I sent you an e-mail once a month"

"Well looks like those e-mails were all lies" Brooke's mother laughed like it was funny. Brooke couldn't believe this…

"Wow… I wonder why"

"I don't want you with him Brooke"

"I love him" Brooke sighed, that was all she could think to say, and in her mind that's all that really mattered.

"So now you love him just to spite me? That's mature Brooke"

"Don't even…"

"You better go… He and Peyton went off somewhere, you never know" Brooke's mother smiled, finding it funny that Brooke looked a little worried at her words.

"Go to hell"

Lucas sat with Peyton in his dormroom. She was doing some kind of screwed up picture of what looked like a fish with legs… he wasn't in the mood to ask what it was really about. In fact he was kind of wondering what she was doing there… and where Karen and Keith had gone so fast. None of this could be good for his heart. Finally after what seemed like forever, his door opened and in walked Brooke. He could tell she'd been crying, and had tried to cover it up… and as hard as he was trying not to feel sorry for her, he still did. He guessed that was one of the things that sucked about being in love.

"Can we talk?" Brooke asked sitting down on the bed beside Lucas. She wasn't looking forward to this, by the look on his face she could tell he was seriously mad, and or upset.

"I guess"

"I'll go" Peyton whispered leaving them alone.

"I talked to my mom"

"Me too"

"Lucas please don't look at me like that" Brooke sighed trying to keep herself together. She knew this was totally her fault, but that didn't mean he had to look at her like that while she was trying to fix things.

"Like what?"

"You know what… Lucas it isn't like you've never lied"

"Not about us I haven't" Lucas said very straightforward and serious. It sent chills down Brooke's spine. She hadn't seen him like this since she'd slept with Chris Keller.

"It was just them…"

"Brooke they're your parents"

"Exactly" Brooke sighed hoping he had gotten the point. They were HER parents, the people who had basically made her life hell for the past 17 years.

"If you cant even tell your parents about us, how are we ever supposed to make this work?"

"It's not like you and your mom Lucas…Don't get mad at me…"

"I'm not mad" Lucas said giving her that 'I'm not mad, just disappointed' look. It burned, but she tried to ignore it.

"You're not…"

"But I do think maybe we should slow things down…maybe wait on the whole apartment thing"

"Right…" Brooke sighed trying not to slap him. She couldn't believe this had turned into what it had… all just because she didn't want her mother down here torturing Lucas.

"Brooke!"

"What?"

"Its not a big deal… I just think we should wait until you're… I don't know, not lying about us?" Lucas said closing the book he had been staring at the whole time. Here it was… this was Lucas apparently 'not' mad.

"So… you're not mad?"

"You lied about us on purpose to your mother Brooke! Do you want me to be happy about that?"

"So?" Brooke asked still not understanding why he couldn't understand why she'd done it.

"So… there has to be a reason for that and maybe we shouldn't be living together yet if there is"

"Why? Why do you always have to have some explanation? Did I ever ask you for one after you cheated on me? Or broke up with me twice? I trusted you!"

"This isn't about that and you know it!" Lucas yelled. They were definitely in a yelling match now.

"What's it about then Lucas?"

"Why don't we start with the dozens of e-mails you sent her?"

"Those weren't for you to read!" Brooke said lowering her voice a little. She didn't have much of a defense on this one considering all the snooping she'd done with his stuff in high school.

"Is that all its about Brooke? Money and status?"

"I can't believe you'd even ask me that!"

"I cant believe you'd write that!" Lucas yelled trying to match hers.

"Lucas! I gave all that up for you ok? Money… status, all of that was gone when I came back to Tree Hill!"

"Don't give me that… you wanted to come back for senior year"

"I came back for you! Yes! I missed my parents Lucas, but I knew I'd miss you more" Brooke said giving up on not crying.

"Then what's the big deal with telling your mom about us?"

"The big deal Lucas! The big deal is she's taken everything I've ever cared about and made sure to ruin it! Everything! Maybe I love you too much to loose you to her!"

"You think I would let that happen?" Lucas asked taking her by the shoulders. He was still yelling, but from what Brooke could tell it was a good kind of tell… at least she hoped it was.

"Lucas! You've already started too! You're out here yelling at me because of what she said to you! I don't want to be with anyone else! I don't want money or power or any of that, Ok? I want you! I love that you _don't _care about money or politics, and that you _aren't _embarrassed to kiss me in public. That you treat me like a person and not some idiot ditzy girl whose just there for sex and looks. I love that you love me because I'm me, and not because I have big boobs and make your guy friends jealous! Lucas, I don't give a damn if we live in some huge mansion or a beat up old apartment ok? I don't care who powerful we know, and what the next big event is! I care that every night when you think I'm asleep you kiss my cheek and tell me you love me, and there's no one else out there you'd rather be with right then than me, and that you cant sleep when I'm not with you. I love the fact that we are 19 years old and I know for 100 that I want to marry you and spend the rest of my life with you… but if one conversation with my mother has you re-thinking everything…"

"It doesn't…"

"You swear?" Brooke asked making him look her in the eyes, and trying to stop the tears that were coming out of hers. Sometimes she hated being a girl just because she got so emotional whenever they fought. Why couldn't he cry for once?

"She just came, and showed me my biggest fears ok? Every time a guy hits on you, some guy in a Lacosta shirt who I know can give you everything I cant, Brooke I'm so scared of loosing you to that"

"You don't think I have those too? Every time you meet some smart girl in your classes, or some girl who can play basketball or listens to your music! I get so scared you're 2 seconds away from realizing I'm not what you want"

"You don't ever have to worry about that…" Lucas sighed hugging her, and wondering why they hadn't ever talked about this. So many things just made their relationship that much more complicated, but it seemed like every time they got a new issue, he loved her even more.

"I know, but I will… and you don't either"

"But I will… are we always going to be this screwed up?"

"I hope so, so are you still anti-live with me?" Brooke asked figuring they should probably deal with that now too.

"No…"

"Good, because I think Peyton and I found something…"


	16. Chapter 16

Hey guys! I am SOOOO sorry! I dont know what's wrong with this site but I've been trying to put an update up since last Thursday... and it wouldnt let me log in... so today FINALLY it let me, so YAY! I hope you guys liek this chapter! Thank you for being so patient! I'm sorry it took so long!

Brooke whined as she helped Lucas carry the couch up what seemed like 40 flights of stairs. She wasn't made for this! 8 weeks to get an apartment, clean the gross thing… put 7 locks on the door, paint, decorate and come up with the money for furniture… and now she had to carry the stupid couch. Although she had to admit… it kinda felt good knowing she and Lucas had their own place. After finally getting her mother out of the picture, and dealing with a few other little details, she was just ready to get moved in, settled and sleep in her and Lucas's nice big bed. I mean the apartment was nice after they had sanitized it, and Lucas had threatened the scary neighbors. It had 3 bedrooms surprisingly… even though they were really small. The kitchen and den were barely 2 different rooms… and the 1 bathroom barely had any standing room. Then there was the fact that they were completely over budget…but thanks to Lucas's new job, and some of Peyton's Ellie money… everything seemed do-able. That was as long as Peyton would finally tell Lucas she was pregnant.

"Brooke… you have to lift up the back end!" Lucas panted trying to get the couch up the last few steps. He had to give it to Brooke, she was at least trying… but the fact that she was in heels and a very low cut shirt definitely wasn't helping matters.

"Its heavy… Lucas… Ow! I'm going to drop it!"

"Where's Nathan?"

"Helping Haley… Lucas! It's breaking my fingers" Brooke whined feeling the couches pointy edges cutting into her fingers. Why had she ever offered to help?

"Just a few more steps"

"I hate moving in… isn't this a guy thing?"

"Brooke lift it up!" Lucas yelled feeling the couch start to slip as Brooke whined.

"I am… and besides, aren't you supposed to be doing this shirtless or something?"

"I will if you will" Lucas laughed raising his eyebrows at her. She didn't seem amused at all. Just pissed off and whiney… but at least she was cute about it.

"Don't make me drop this on purpose"

"Can you 2 go any faster! This mattress is heavy!" Nathan yelled from the bottom of the stairs.

"If Brooke would stop whining"

"Maybe I would if Lucas would take his shirt off, and besides! Who painted the whole place? Who cleaned and killed all the bugs?"

"Peyton and I did!" Haley yelled determined not to let Brooke get away with saying she had. In fact all Brooke had done was stand and watch and tell them what to do.

"Brooke… just go, you're so close"

"Whiney people… Can I put it down now?"

"Yes…you did good babe" Lucas smiled hugging Brooke once they had the couch down.

"You're rewarding her for taking an hour to help you carry up a couch… and whining the whole time"

"Ugh, go die Nathan" Brooke whined hugging Lucas tighter. Sometimes she really didn't like Nathan… especially right now. If Haley whined… it was cute in Nathan's eyes, but if anyone else did it, it was girly and sissy.

"Where do you want the mattress?"

"Where do you think? I think all this college drinking is depriving you of precious brain cells"

"Where's Peyton anyway… she was so determined to live with us, and she isn't even here to help move" Lucas said still trying to figure out where the hell she was. If she wanted to live here so bad she could at least be helping some…

"She had a doctors appointment"

"Why?"

"Because she did?" Brooke asked looking to Haley for help. It was really time Peyton told everyone. She was even starting to show now, and Brooke had no idea how to explain that one to Lucas other than saying it was a beer belly.

"Lucas you're so nosy"

"I agree with Haley… I think you should be less nosy, more shirtless"

"What is with you and this shirtless fetish?" Lucas asked brushing Brooke's hair out of her eyes and she wrapped her arms around his neck to kiss him.

"Guys who fix cars where wife beaters, guys who move… they're shirtless. You're killing my dream here"

"Lucas… I feel for you man, why did you guys need 3 bedrooms anyway?"

"Rooms are good" Lucas said as plain and to the point as possible.

"We like rooms"

"I brought food"

"Karen! Wow…" Brooke shrieked running over to Karen and her big belly. She was huge… in fact, that was incentive enough for Brooke right there to make sure she and Lucas were using 2 types of birth control.

"4 more weeks, Brooke its beautiful in here… I was a little worried when I first walked in the building but, did you do all this?"

"I didn't do… so much as I designed and ordered"

"And where is all this money coming from?" Karen asked, as usual being the worried mother, wondering if everything they were doing was even legal.

"You're fabulously hott son got a job"

"You're kidding"

"Nope… and I didn't even have to tell him too" Brooke smiled skipping back over to Lucas.

"Lucas… what kind of job"

"He writes… sports articles for school"

"Now if we can just get Peyton to get a job…" Lucas muttered. He wasn't exactly thrilled with Peyton today… or for the past few weeks for that matter.

"Ok… now that Keith's here, you boys have fun moving"

"You're leaving…"

"Do you really want me here to 'help' carry more?" Brooke whined taking Lucas's hands in hers. She had house warming presents to buy…

"Let her go dude…"

"I'll be home later… and Peyton's staying one last night at the dorm" Brooke whispered raising her eyebrows at Lucas. That should get him motivated.

"Come on Brooke…"

After making a few stops for various things Brooke thought she and Lucas needed. Condoms and a cute new bra just being a few, Brooke and Haley picked up Ella and headed to a little pet shop to pick up a puppy for Lucas. Brooke figured that to buy a puppy… you needed a kid with you. At least that's what she told Haley, actually she just wanted an excuse to get Ella out of that terrible place and have some fun with her. Since she and Lucas had started spending more time with her, Ella had started talking, and laughing more, and even singing.

"Ok… which one do you think chick? This one?" Brooke asked holding Ella up so she could see Brooke's favorite puppy so far. A little fuzzy Pomeranian who could totally be named Gucci.

"Nowa"

"No? I think he's cute… ok, what about the poodle?"

"Nowa" Ella whined burring her face into Brooke's shoulder. She'd been coughing a lot since they had picked her up, and now she didn't want to do anything but have Brooke carry her around. But Brooke was determined to get this puppy for Lucas before he had a chance to pick one out himself.

"No? You're not making this easy… come on, choose already"

"Brooke… Lucas is going to kill you! You can't just buy him a dog without telling him" Haley laughed trying to picture the look on Lucas's face when Brooke brought home a $300 dog.

"Dat"

"Him?" Brooke asked glaring at the puppy Ella had pointed out. It was cute… but not girly fuzzy cute. More like guy, little boy cute. Definitely not what she was looking for.

"Yeaya"

"Aww! He's cute!"

"No Ella… Haley! It looks like a Sherlock… it cant look like a Sherlock, it has to be a Gucci" Brooke whined looking back over at the chihuahua's and Pomeranians.

"Nowa" Ella whined pointing at the puppy again. That was it, Brooke had definitely spoiled this kid way too much. Ella wasn't even 2 yet and already knew exactly when Brooke would give in… She'd gotten to be the same way with Lucas too. Brooke actually found it funny that they'd both let this little girl get them this whipped.

"It's a beagle… Ella, fine… this one it is" Brooke sighed getting the man selling the puppies attention.

"He's a sweet one, your daughter will love him"

"She's not my daughter…"

"She might as well be" Haley muttered. Brooke really wasn't in the mood to listen to Haley's child psychology lectures today.

"Look Ella, are you ready to take him to Lucas and watch him get really mad at me for buying $300 on a dog?"

"Yeaya"

"I bet you are you little spoiled thing, come on…" Brooke sighed rolling her eyes at the little girl. She had to admit though, it was fun to have someone who didn't care what she bought her, she was just happy she got some thing.

"Brooke, since when do you hang out with babies for fun?"

"This isn't fun… this is business, puppy buying always needs kids"

"Brooke" Haley groaned making sure Brooke knew that Haley could see right through her little act.

"What?"

"You're 19…"

"I realize that Haley…" Brooke said giving her a duh look. She loved Haley dearly but when she started getting all know it all on her… she pretty much just drove her crazy.

"I just think you and Lucas are a little attached to something you're going to ultimately loose"

"We're not attached…"

"Really? Then let me hold her" Haley said trying to prove her point.

"No… you have the puppy, plus Ella has a cold, she's been whiney and coughing since we picked her up"

"She attached to you guys too, I'm just saying… it's going to be hard on more than just you and Lucas if she gets adopted"

"I know…" Brooke sighed trying not to think about it too much.

"Come on… lets just go take her back and pick up Peyton"

Back at the apartment, after 5 hours of moving and listening to Karen cry because her baby was all grown up, and watching Keith try and down as many beers as possible. Lucas was just ready for Brooke to get back. In the time it was taking her he had written her 3 letters, and finished his article for the paper… not to mention moved everything in. And now he was getting kind of worried.

"Ok well I am going to take a nap" Karen yawned looking down at her watch. It was already 5:00 and Brooke still wasn't back, and carrying around all this extra weight was making her exhausted.

"What? No… Brooke will be back any minute and then you guys can head out"

"Cant we just stay here for the night?"

"No… mom" Lucas sighed trying to get it through her head they were NOT staying.

"What? We wont get in the way of organizing"

"Karen… do you really think they are going to be organizing tonight?"

"I'd hope so" Karen laughed knowing Keith was right, she just didn't like to think of Lucas and Brooke like that… ever.

"This is Brooke and Lucas we're talking about"

"Wow! Its all in here!" Brooke shrieked after opening the door. It was a complete mess of course, but she could definitely deal with that tomorrow after class.

"Finally… ok you guys can go now"

"We can't talk to Brooke about her day?"

"You know… it was a really long day actually, I had Ella with me and I'm really sleepy" Brooke sighed doing a fake yawn. Her guess was Lucas had been trying to get them out of there all day… and wasn't having any luck.

"Me too"

"Then we can all sleep"

"Or…not" Keith laughed spotting Brooke's Victoria's Secret bag.

"What's in the bags?"

"Nothing…"

"You guys can't wait until tomorrow to do whatever you've planned" Karen asked. It wasn't even because she knew that they were going to have sex now, it was just because she was tired.

"Nope… bad luck"

"Brooke?"

"Karen… Keith… I love you both but here's the deal. You can go stay in Lucas's dorm room which is still technically his for the rest of the week… or" Brooke started hoping they'd take the cue, not ask any more questions and leave.

"Or?"

"You can watch us have sex in every room"

"We'll see you 2 tomorrow" Karen sighed getting Keith out of there so fast Brooke and Lucas didn't even have a chance to tell them bye. Not that either of them actually cared at the moment, Brooke was already working on getting Lucas's shirt off, and he already had her on the couch.

"Which is your favorite room?"

"This one's good"

"Uh huh" Brooke whispered deciding this was probably the best place to start, especially since he was already working on her bra. But Brooke knew it was too good to be true, after all when had she and Lucas ever gotten to do anything this fun without someone killing it… and of course, that was true this time too.

"Wow! You guys"

"Damn it Peyton!"

"Wow… ok, sorry" Peyton gagged covering her eyes. She was glad she had gotten there before the pants had hit the floor.

"What?"

"Haley said to remind you about the you know what?"

"Tomorrow… we're kind of in the middle of something right now" Brooke whispered pointing out the obvious.

"In the den?"

"And every other room… now go"

"Ew… in my room too?" Peyton asked, now not wanting to leave if they were going to contaminate her room.

"Its not your room until tomorrow, Peyton…"

"But Haley left me with the you know what, and I cant keep it in the dorm room"

"I'm going to kill her" Brooke whined finally getting of Lucas's lap. It was obvious Peyton wasn't going away unless she physically forced her.

"What are we talking about?"

"Here… you give it to him" Peyton said handing Brooke a box, which she guessed the poor little puppy was in.

"Peyton… I am standing here with my bra ½ un-done in my underwear, I am not in the mood to give it to him at the moment"

"Well you don't have a choice"

"What did I do to deserve this? Give it here… Lucas close your eyes" Brooke sighed completely annoyed with her best friend. Her bra was 2 seconds away from falling off and here she was giving Lucas a puppy.

"Its in the bag"

"Ok… open"

"Brooke you didn't…" Lucas said seeing the little puppy. He wasn't sure if he should b e mad that Brooke had gotten a dog without telling him, or excited because he had really wanted one.

"I was going to put a bow on him, Ella picked him out"

"Ew, this is like some gross porno"

"And you even got a boy?" Lucas asked holding the puppy. He'd decided he wasn't so much mad as excited now, especially since Brooke seemed so proud of the fact she'd gotten it just for him.

"Yes… do you like him?"

"I love him"

"Aww! Its like an after school special… porno-ish thing" Peyton laughed watching as Brooke and Lucas played with the puppy… 1/2 naked.

"Peyton…"

"Sorry…"

"Well while we're doing surprises… Peyton has one for you too Lucas" Brooke sighed giving Peyton that look. It was more than obvious she was pregnant now and she had to tell Lucas. BEFORE she moved in.

"Brooke… no"

"Yep… I told you, you had to tell him before you moved in…"

"Can you 2 put shirts on first?" Peyton asked trying to delay this as much as possible. She knew Lucas wasn't going to take this well. So did Brooke. Not because Lucas had any certain feelings for Peyton, but because Lucas was a guy… and Peyton still hadn't told Nathan and Jake.

"Sure… look, he's got a puppy… it's the best time to tell him"

"Ok… sit back down"

"What's going on?" Lucas asked sounding serious. Brooke wasn't sure who she needed to sit with and support right now.

"Brooke thinks I need to tell you this"

"Because you do…"

"I'm pregnant" Peyton finally said flat out. It was a lot easier than explaining the whole story of how it happened first.

"It's not mine" Lucas said before Peyton had barely finished. Brooke couldn't help but laugh at him.

"I know, calm down"

"Its either Jake or Nathan's"

"Wow…" Lucas sighed, not expecting that. Actually he'd always kind of expected Brooke to end up in that situation… not to get him wrong… he loved her more than anything, but this just seemed more like a Brooke type problem.

"That's why I have to live with you guys"

"Ok…"

"That wasn't so bad" Peyton said taking a deep breath. It felt good to get it off her chest…

"This explains a lot"

"I'm not ready for Jake or Nathan to know"

"Peyton you have to tell them" Lucas said even more serious than before. Brooke could feel the tension building… she wasn't sure who to defend. They both had good points… Peyton didn't want to scare both, but Lucas knew that if he were in the situation, he'd want to know no matter what.

"Lucas…" Brooke whispered shaking her head and taking his hand. She agreed with Lucas to a certain extent, but this wasn't either of their place.

"I will…at some point"

"They have to know"

"They will… I just need time" Peyton said getting louder and louder with every sentence. It made Brooke wonder why she even bothered with the 2 of them… the older they got the more and more they didn't get a long.

"Sex in every room somehow doesn't seem as appealing anymore at the moment"

"Time isn't going to make it go away Peyton!" Lucas said matching Peyton's tone.

"And telling them is? They don't need to know yet!"

"I'd want to know if I were them"

"You're not them… thank god" Peyton muttered. Brooke had to agree with her there, just for totally different reasons, when Lucas had to hear that he was going to be a dad one day, it was definitely coming from her, and not Peyton.

"Well this is going to be a fun living arrangement" Brooke sighed then heard her phone. It couldn't have rung at a more perfect time.

"Whose that?"

"Unknown Call… Hello?… What?... We'll be there in like 10 minutes"

"What's wrong?" Lucas asked seeing Brooke face turn from semi-cheery to completely serious and worried.

"We've gotta go to the hospital"


	17. Chapter 17

So this website really hates me! haha Everytime I try and sign in some error comes up! Its quite depressing. Anyway! Here's chapter 17. I think I am going to only take this story to maybe 25 or 30 chapters... just because I've started a new one. It takes place right where the season finale ended and I am kinda in love with that story. So I'll get this one finished up and let you know when I start posting the other one! Enjoy this chapter!

"Brooke, Lucas… no need to be alarmed" A tall blonde woman said meeting Brooke and Lucas at the door. She didn't look worried so it gave Brooke some piece of mind. She'd been worried the whole way here. All they had told her on the phone was that Ella was in the hospital, not to bother coming by tomorrow.

"What's wrong with her?"

"After you brought her back, she spiked a fever… they think its pneumonia, there was no need to come down. I just thought I would tell you"

"What? Of course we'd come… is she going to be ok?" Brooke asked gripping Lucas's hand harder and harder by the second… she didn't do well at all in situations like this. She wasn't built for it…

"After a few days here she should be ok, I've got to get back…"

"You're just leaving her here?" Lucas asked, he sounded really mad which surprised Brooke. Usually Lucas was really laid back… even during rough times. But he did love Ella, and Brooke figured this was getting to him just as bad as it was her.

"She has nurses"

"What room?"

"They're starting an IV right now" The blonde said, ignoring Lucas's question, which seemed to piss him off even more.

"What room…"

"That one… right there"

The whole place smelled like a hospital, obviously… but it made Lucas's stomach churn. At least the room Ella was in was painted with some kind of fish and colors… but it still looked so sad. Even sadder than she did, laying there coughing and crying as they tried to get an IV in. Her face lit up a little when she saw Lucas and Brooke, until they tried to get the IV in again.

"Hey… god, Lucas look at her" Brooke whispered standing closer to Lucas. This whole place was breaking her heart.

"We're working on an IV right now, but she's squirming, sit still honey"

"You're poking her with the needles?"

"We have to get her hydrated… this happens a lot with orphans, there's so many there they cant keep them all well" The nurse said trying to hold Ella's little arm down while she cried and squirmed.

"Wait…Brooke go tell Peyton where we are" Lucas whispered seeing that this was too much for Brooke to handle right now. He walked over to the bed and picked up Ella. He knew first hand how much IV's hurt. He sat back with little Ella against his chest while she coughed and cried. He didn't really know what else to other than just pat her back and tell her how brave she was. It seemed to calm her down a little… her coughing eased up and crying stopped after a few minutes. He couldn't imagine how someone could actually leave her there alone like that… she was so small and seemed so lonely laying against his chest, playing with his fingers. Once she was completely calm, the nurse decided it was time to try for an IV again. Lucas hated the thought of watching, but he hated the thought of making her do it alone even more.

"I bet Brooke went to buy you some presents" Lucas whispered rubbing the little girls back as the nurse looked around for a vein. She was too sick to even care they were messing around with her arm.

"Ok we're going to do it on the count of 3… keep her looking away"

"So you want a bear?"

"1" The nurse said loudly. Lucas wanted more than anything to tell her just to shut up and do it already, get it over with.

"Nowa"

"No? What about… a bunny?" Lucas whispered making sure to keep her looking the other way.

"2"

"Nowa… doggie"

"A doggie? When you get better will you come help me take care of mine?" Lucas asked figuring she's like to come play with the puppy.

"Yeaya"

"3" The nurse said sticking the needle in, making Ella cry and cough all over again.

"Shh…"

"You're all finished…"

"Lucas!" Brooke shrieked running into the hospital room. This was one of the few times Lucas had ever actually seen Brooke run, so he knew it had to be important.

"What took you so long… what?"

"Your moms here! Having the baby!"

"What?" Lucas asked trying to yell and upset Ella again.

"Yea… well they said it would still be a few hours… you should go see her"

"Yea… wow" Lucas said starting to put Ella back on the bed, but the second she started to move her the crying and coughing started back.

"Nowa"

"Maybe after she's asleep?"

"Ella… what did they do to you? I got you a present" Brooke smiled laying down on the bed beside Lucas and pulling Ella's prize out of the giftshop bag.

"What did I tell you?"

"Look! It looks like Gucci!"

"His name is not Gucci" Lucas whispered shaking his head at her. There was no way in hell they were naming that puppy Gucci.

"Yea it is… are you going to let Lucas get up and go see his mommy?" Brooke asked wiping Ella's hair away from her face. She looked so sad and sick laying there on Lucas's chest.

"Nowa"

"She didn't look this sick earlier… she was fine. I shouldn't have taken her out anywhere"

"Brooke it's not your fault" Lucas promised, after all he'd been there this morning before they started moving and other than being a little whiney and coughing… she'd seemed fine.

"She kept coughing…"

"She's probably better of sick here than she is there… at least she has us here"

"Haley's right Lucas" Brooke sighed hating to admit this. But seeing Lucas laying there with Ella just proved Haley's point further.

"About what?"

"We're getting too attached, I mean before I wanted someone nice to come and adopt her more than anything…and now, now I don't want anyone to have her. Am I the most selfish person ever to think that?"

"Brooke, my mother is having my brother or sister tonight, and I'm laying here with her, if you're selfish… I am too" Lucas half laughed but he saw what she was saying.

"I wish we were older, and married and ready for kids… ok that's a lie I don't want to be old… but we can still me married and ready for kids"

"Money might help too"

"Money… right" Brooke sighed. This was really making her feel bad for Peyton… at least Brooke had Lucas if something like this were going to happen. Peyton was completely alone until she found out whose baby it was.

"And time…"

"Yea… I guess kids need that too huh?"

"Kids and us… its not like we have the most free time in the world" Lucas laughed thinking of how much time they spent apart as it was now.

"I know… but what would be the difference, if say I got pregnant totally by accident now? We'd make time and money and we'd have to be ready right?"

"I guess… but"

"But what? With her she's like already trained…I just don't want anything bad for her" Brooke smiled looking at the tiny little girl in Lucas's arms.

"If you got pregnant right now, like Peyton, we wouldn't have a choice, we'd be forced into something, and I don't want us forced into anything…I want us to get married when _we_ want, and have kids when _we_ want… not because we have too"

"I know, me too… and I kinda don't want to be 19 we get married and have kids either. Ella just makes my heart hurt, in a good way… but it still hurts"

"I know… mine too" Lucas sighed taking Brooke's hand. At least they could have a mature conversation and admit they were both being selfish. In his eyes that had to at least be a start.

"Lucas Scott!"

"What? Keith… shh"

"You're mother has been trying to call you for 30 minutes! What are you doing?" Keith asked, not quieting down at all. He seemed really nervous, and pissed…

"Getting Ella to sleep"

"Why don't you leave the kid and come see your mother… both of you? She needs hands to hold"

"I don't want to be there for that…" Lucas cringed. Brooke found it funny how he turned from the serious mature Lucas, to the 'whiney please don't make me do that' Lucas in a matter of seconds.

"Lucas doesn't do well with the whole pain thing"

"But you can sit here with a sick kid while she coughs all over you?" Keith asked not buying it for a second. He could at least be there for his mom.

"Mom has you Keith… go sit with her, I'll be up later"

"I'm not supposed to go back up until I have you and or Brooke"

"Go… come here Ella Bella, we'll play while Lucas is gone…don't cry… I've got you…wave bye bye" Brooke whispered taking into her arms. It was obvious she didn't want to leave Lucas, or do anything but cry and whine for that matter. Brooke felt so bad for her.

"I'll be back"

Up a few floors Lucas walked with Keith to go see his mom. He was really dreading this. The screaming, the pain… the blood, it just wasn't his thing. Especially when it was happening to his mother. When he had Brooke had kids one day, fine… he'd be there holding her hand or whatever he needed to do, of course. But his mother… this wasn't his job, he was supposed to be in like the waiting room, with Brooke… talking and calling people… not actually in there.

"Lucas… thank god… can I go home now?" Peyton begged meeting Lucas at the doorway to Karen's room. She looked petrified and pale… like she'd seen a ghost or something.

"Yea… you ok?"

"Pregnant women don't need to see women in labor… I'm going now"

"Yea…" Lucas laughed. He had forgotten that Peyton was pregnant… and there was no telling the things she and heard in there with his mom.

"Lucas… where's Brooke"

"With Ella… are you ok?"

"Ella? She needs to be up here… I need a girl" Karen said hitting the corner of the bed with her fist. She looked like she was in a lot of pain and Lucas sure as hell wasn't bringing Brooke up here to this… she'd probably cry or throw up.

"Oh no… I am not letting you scare her out of having kids"

"It's a beautiful thing"

"You see beautiful… Brooke sees pain and yelling and… no she's not coming up here… we'll be a childless couple" Lucas laughed sitting down in the chair by his moms bed. She seemed like she was in a little bit less pain now… but none the less he was really glad he was a guy right now.

"Which is exactly what you should be for the next 10 years… maybe it will scare her out of having sex"

"Another reason she's not coming up here… how are you feeling? Did they give you pain medicine?"

"I don't believe in pain medicine… it might hurt the baby" Karen whispered doing some kind of creepy breathing thing. Lucas wasn't sure he ever wanted to see Brooke like this, in this much pain…maybe she was right when she said they should just adopt kids.

"Right…is she ok?"

"Contraction… you're a sheltered child Lucas"

"No kidding…" Lucas laughed nervously looking at his watch. It was 9:15… and apparently going to be a really long night.

"Oh is this your older son? Are you excited about watching your sister or brother get born?" The nurse asked bringing in a whole armful of stuff that Lucas didn't even want to ask what it was.

"What… I'm not watching"

"Lucas! We need someone to video tape it"

"No! No… I came, I saw you, I am not watching it happen" Lucas said putting his foot down. There was no way in hell he was watching this happen… much less videotape it.

"What about when you and Brooke have children"

"Well then I will be up near her head… holding her hand away from the blood… plus she'll be my wife… not my mother"

"Ok Karen… I am going to check you" The nurse smiled. That was Lucas's cue to get out of there as fast as he could.

"I… I'm gonna go now, I don't need to see any of this… call me after its born, and clean and I will come hang out with my little brother or sister? Ok? I love you"

"Bye… I think Brooke's having a negative affect on him"

Downstairs on the children's floor Brooke laid with Ella watching bad Spanish Soaps. The nurse came in a few times, to check on Ella… but for the most part it was just Brooke and Ella for a while. Ella finally woke up after a while and seemed to be feeling a lot better… she was talking to Brooke and giggling, but Brooke could tell that she probably still felt terrible. And whenever Brooke sat up or made a sudden move Ella started to cry and cough saying "Nowa go" and clung to Brooke's arm. From the looks of things she and Lucas were going to be there all night. And they were… when Lucas finally got back to the room with some decent food, and ice cream for Ella, they ate, talked and the next thing Brooke knew Lucas's cell phone was ringing and she was hanging off the bed.

"Lucas… get the phone" Brooke whined not wanting to get up.

"Hello?

"It's a girl!"

"Really? We'll be there in a second…" Lucas yawned hanging up the phone and waking Brooke up.

"I so knew it was a girl… just someone else for me to compete with"

"She's asleep… we'll be back before she wakes up right?"

"Yea… whatever they gave her put her out…"

When they got up upstairs to the room, Karen was holding the baby and Keith was taking pictures galore. It was the cutest thing Brooke had ever seen. They all seemed so happy… even Lucas who had been against this the whole time was smiling. Lucas walked towards the bed holding Brooke's hand until Karen started to hand him the baby.

"You want to hold her?" Karen asked, basically not giving Lucas a choice in the matter. Because by the time she got the word 'her' out of her mouth the little baby was already being forced into Lucas's arms.

"What's her name?"

"Erin Roe Scott"

"She's so cute… Lucas I want one" Brooke whined looking down at the little baby… well she didn't actually want one at the moment… but she was really cute.

"No you don't"

"Well one day… She's got big eyes"

"That's you're future sister in law Brooke" Karen laughed, then looked nervous at the thought. Brooke hadn't even thought about that…

"And that's creepy… imagine the things I can teach her though"

"Smile for a picture"

"Did it hurt?" Brooke asked figuring Karen would give her the truth… and it couldn't have hurt but so bad, because she looked fine now.

"You have no idea…"

"No details…" Lucas said quickly really not wanting to know anything at all about any of it.

"You guys should come stay with us for a while… we've got the extra room and I know you wont be ready to drive back"

"Thanks Brooke"

"Ok… everyone let the mom get her rest… visiting hours will start in the morning" The nurse said giving Brooke and Lucas a look. Then again it was 3AM.

"Bye Erin"

"Lucas is she adorable… lets go look at the other babies!"

"No…" Lucas whined wrapping his arms around her waist. She looked so cute standing there though, with her arms around his waist and her forehead against his… just smiling. Standing there like that he could look into her eyes, and see that he loved her, no questions asked.

"Why?"

"Because you're going to want one…"

"I do want one… when we're married and I have a nice big ring on my finger, then I can get totally fat and you're still stuck with me" Brooke giggled kissing his bottom lip.

"Uh huh…"

"And we can have a big house back in North Carolina…with a red door of course"

"Of course" Lucas smiled hugging her tighter. She was so cute when she was tired, the way she rambled on about stuff she probably wouldn't remember in the morning…

"And we can have a swing set in the backyard and a sandbox and have lots of southern babies"

"Southern babies"

"You and I both know those are the best kind" Brooke giggled pointing out that they were both southern babies at one time.

"Lots?"

"Ok not lots… like 2 tops"

"I figured 2 was stretching it for you" Lucas laughed shaking his head at her craziness. But god knows he loved her for every bit of it.

"Well I want them to have someone to play with… I hated being an only child… we'll just have them like back to back… then we wont have to worry about it anymore"

"You're crazy"

"Crazy Beautiful maybe…" Brooke sighed rolling her eyes at him. Nights like this made her wonder what she did before Lucas. How she was ever really happy… but they also made her worry what she'd do if she ever lost him. He was her life as of right now…

"That too"

"We'll always be like this right?"

"Like what? Immature?" Lucas laughed kissing her nose

"Shut up… you know what I mean"

"God I hope so"

"Even when I'm like 30, you'll still kiss me in front of everyone" Brooke asked standing on her tiptoes so her nose could touch his.

"Always"

"And write me letters everyday?"

"Everyday" Lucas whispered kissing her forehead. She looked so sleepy.

"Good"

"Can we sleep now?"

"If we must…"

Back in Ella's room it wasn't as pleasant and happy as they had been upstairs. In fact, they were far from it. Apparently what the doctors had given her to make her sleep through the night, hadn't lasted because by the time Brooke and Lucas got in there she was crying as hard as she could and coughing up a storm looking for them.

"Aww… sweetie! Come here…" Brooke sighed pulling poor little Ella into her arms. Her face was red and streaked with tears.

"We shouldn't have left her…"

"We had too… Luke I don't think I can do this anymore"

"What?" Lucas asked but he had a feeling he knew what she was getting at.

"This… its not fair to us or her…I don't want to want her anymore than I already do… and then have to watch her go to some strangers…"

"Brooke that's all we can do… just be here for her now, and try to be happy if and when she gets adopted"

"Yea but it sucks for us" Brooke sighed rocking Ella back and forth as she calmed down.

"I know… but think how much it would suck for her if she didn't have us"

"As much as it would suck for you if you didn't have me?"

"You have no idea" Lucas whispered laying down in the bed beside her and Ella.

"I love you Lucas"

"I love you too"


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18! Hahaha so I am going to start getting these chapters out pretty fast. Basically because I am too in love with my new story and I am SOO ready for you guys to read it! Enjoy this chapter

Lucas found it hard to believe how fast time passed these days… and how much happened in that amount of time. Between school, his new job, Brooke's clothes and dealing with Peyton and his mom. Brooke and Lucas were just lucky they lived together and at least saw each other at nights. But thankfully, it was May and classes would be over soon… which left Brooke and Lucas the entire summer to do as they pleased. Lucas was really looking forward to it too, by then Peyton would have hopefully told Nathan and or Jake about the baby… and he and Brooke could stop dodging all the questions from everyone. Another thing he was looking forward to forgetting about was Keith's drinking. He had hoped that after they took Erin home, that Keith would stop… but from the sound of things… it had only gotten worse and the decision had finally been made, for Keith to go to rehab for a few weeks. No one was happy about it, especially Karen… since it meant her driving Keith, and leaving Erin with Brooke and Lucas for a few days. Truth be told, Lucas wasn't exactly thrilled about this either, but Brooke didn't seem to care… so in the end he had to say yes.

"Ok… now you know when to feed her right?" Karen asked nervously, trying to remember all the things she had to tell Lucas. This was the first time she'd ever left Erin, and it was for 3 nights… and it was with Lucas. Of course she trusted Lucas, but he'd never been around babies… much less had to take care of one for 3 days.

"Yes, mom you wrote everything down"

"All the numbers?"

"Yes" Lucas said getting irritated… he had other things to do today than listen to his mother lecture him for an hour.

"I don't know, Lucas… are you sure you can handle this?"

"Mom… I'm 19, besides Peyton's down talking to her dad, and I've got Brooke here with me"

"That's what worries me" Karen whispered trying not to imagine all the bad things that could happen. If Lucas hadn't ever been around babies, then Brooke sure as hell hadn't…

"Hey… I heard that"

"Just don't let her try to do anything…"

"Mom… go" Lucas sighed giving her a hug and taking Erin from her. For a split second he wasn't sure if she was actually going to go through with it… but at this point she didn't really have a choice.

"Going… bye Erin, I love you…"

"If I ever get like that when we have kids, seriously just shoot me…put me out of my misery"

"You'll be worse" Lucas laughed trying to picture him and Brooke with kids. That definitely wasn't an easy thing to do.

"What!"

"You cried for an hour when we took Ella back"

"She still looked sick, and that's totally different" Brooke said rolling her eyes at him

"You realize we aren't sleeping for 3 days right?"

"You aren't sleeping… I don't do babies"

"Brooke" Lucas sighed trying to keep Erin from crying as they talked.

"What? You knew this from the start, they cry and spit up and do a lot of other disgusting things that we won't even mention, plus you heard your mom… I shouldn't try anything"

"Thanks… you're a huge help you know that?"

"Uh huh… and that's why you love me, I've gotta run these sketches over to Jess…I'll be back" Brooke smiled giving him a quick kiss. She was ready to get out of there before Erin started crying harder than she already was.

"Wait…"

"What?"

"How do I make her stop crying?" Lucas asked looking down at Erin completely puzzled.

"I don't know… feed her? Put her to bed? She's like 8 weeks old, all they do is eat and sleep"

"Right…"

"You are pathetic… Hand her here, your mom didn't teach you as much as she likes to think she did" Brooke sighed taking the baby from Lucas and rocking her back and forth. What was it with Karen and having whiney kids?

"How the hell did you do that?"

"Just kinda swish her back and forth… Erin your brother needs help"

"Yea I think I'll run your sketches and you can stay here" Lucas said deciding that things were going to go a lot easier this way.

"Oh no… she's your sister, I'm an only child for a reason… take her"

"Brooke…"

"Swish her…" Brooke whispered handing him back the baby.

"I don't swish…"

"You are never going to get anywhere like this, didn't little mother Haley ever teach you these things when you were playing house or whatever at the age of 8?"

"No… she never had kids when we played… she was always the lawyer or something, don't tell me Peyton taught you that" Lucas laughed trying to imagine Peyton with a baby… then he remembered she was having one and suddenly it seemed wrong…

"Are you kidding me? She cut the heads off her dolls, her mom taught me… just before she died she and papa Peyton were thinking about adopting another baby and she was trying to prepare Peyton and I… since I practically lived there anyway"

"But your parents never…"

"I had a nanny until I was 13… she got paid to make sure I didn't kill myself and that was it" Brooke sighed knowing she had told Lucas all of this before. She was starting to think he was developing selective hearing when it came to their conversations.

"Maybe we should hire someone for the next 3 days…"

"Lucas!"

"What?" Lucas laughed seeing how frustrated this was making Brooke.

"Come on…we'll all go"

Seeing Lucas struggle with a baby all day actually made Brooke feel a little better. She'd always imagined Lucas as this perfect guy who had no problem adapting to these kind of things…that he'd be the perfect husband and father, and it scared the hell out of her, considering when it came to things that wives and mothers did…she knew next to nothing. But Lucas was really having a hard time with this…with Ella he was different. She had him so wrapped around her little finger, that he basically did whatever she asked of him. Erin on the other hand… couldn't ask, or do anything for that matter and it was definitely throwing Lucas for a loop.

"Why wont she stop crying… aren't they supposed to sleep?" Lucas asked trying to hear the game.

"That's it… now I'm totally sure we aren't having kids, I mean I was pretty sure before, and ok…I had even kinda changed my mind a little, but nope… I can't deal with this… we're good with Gucci"

"I think we're in agreement on that, and his name is Sherlock"

"Thank god and nope… Gucci…please Erin, shut up… she gets her mouth from your mother" Brooke whined burying her head in Lucas's chest… how did people live like this?

"I've got to get this article done, and to get it done I have to hear the game…"

"What do you want me to do?"

"The swishing thing" Lucas begged. It was the only way he was going to get his article written.

"No… Lucas I did it for an hour… my arms hurt, damn it you have no idea how much I appreciate Ella at the moment"

"Brooke it's the only thing that keeps her quiet"

"You owe me big time… you know that right? I'm talking like, jewelry big time… I need some earrings" Brooke sighed giving in way to easily. She wasn't in the mood to fight tonight… the entire day had been a constant fight over who should feed her or change her or rock her and right now she was too tired to even think of a way to get out of this.

"I'll do anything if you can just keep her quiet until this game is over"

"Anything… I might need a necklace too… ok, come here kid, lets count the seconds until my arms break"

"Woah… I can hear that baby from down the hall" Peyton laughed slamming the door behind her as she came in. That definitely didn't help matters.

"Peyton thank god, take her… you need practice"

"That's ok… I think I'll manage"

"Please… Lucas will buy you pretty things… or scary things… whatever please" Brooke begged and pleaded.

"Nope… I'm not here long… just came to give you the mail and then Haley and I are getting some dinner"

"Are you going to break it to her you slept with Nathan?"

"Um… no, but I'll tell her you did" Peyton laughed sarcastically. Neither Brooke nor Lucas found this funny.

"Kidding… wow, something that isn't a bill, oh it's for you"

"Hold her for like 2 seconds?"

"2 seconds" Peyton sighed taking the baby from Brooke so she could open her letter.

"Oh my god" Brooke shrieked after a few seconds, scaring Peyton, Lucas and Erin.

"What?"

"Oh my god"

"What happened?" Lucas asked still trying to watch the game.

"Brooke?"

"I got accepted"

"For?" Peyton asked having not a clue what Brooke was talking about.

"Dear Miss Davis, we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted for a summer internship in Paris to further your designing career. Please call for more information"

"Babe that's great" Lucas smiled giving up his game to come kiss his girlfriend. She'd talked about this internship for the past month… constantly. And he was really proud of her for getting in…Peyton on the other hand didn't look as thrilled.

"I knew I could beat that damn Kelsey Freemont!"

"How long is it for?"

"8 weeks!" Brooke shrieked. Paris for 8 weeks was going to be killer!

"Wow… Brooke that's… really awesome" Peyton smiled giving Brooke a hug.

"I know!"

"Peyton!" Brooke heard Haley yell from the stairs; apparently she'd been waiting in the car.

"Right… I've gotta go, I'll be back later" Peyton sighed laying Erin in the bassinet Karen had brought for her to sleep in.

"At least Erin fell asleep"

"After the game ended…"

"Right… I'm bored, lets do something fun" Brooke said trying to think what they could do with Erin here.

"And quiet"

"Right… Oh!"

"What?" Lucas asked seeing the devious grin on Brooke's face.

"We could always make out"

"Fun… quiet, and we don't even have to leave, I like the way you think" Lucas whispered kissing her lower lip.

"Uh huh… I thought you might"

Erin let Brooke and Lucas have their little makeout session for a good 30 minutes before she decided to cry. They both tried to ignore it for a few, but making out just wasn't as much fun with a baby crying in the background. But Brooke figured it was probably best Erin had woken up, 10 more minutes and she and Lucas would have definitely been past the makeout stage and Brooke was pretty sure you weren't supposed to do that while babysitting.

"You wanna answer that?" Brooke asked hearing Lucas's cell ring for the 20th time tonight.

"Its my mother for the 100th time… you'd think she would get the message, you answer"

"Hello… we're fine… she's fine… of course we aren't making out or having sex… uh huh… She's sleeping again FINALLY…you want to talk to her? Yea no… bye"

"That was… nice" Lucas laughed as Brooke climbed back onto his lap so she could kiss him.

"Yea she'll probably kill me when she gets back… but I am not putting the phone to that baby's ear"

"I miss Ella"

"That was random" Brooke giggled sitting back in his arms. But she knew what he meant… she missed Ella too actually. They'd spent so much time with her when she was in the hospital that when they had to take her back, neither of them knew what to do with themselves.

"She's just so much easier than Erin"

"That's because she's 2… and we can take her back when we get tired of her"

"When have we ever gotten tired of her though?" Lucas asked trying to think of at least 1 time where they had been ready to take her back.

"We don't I guess…"

"That's my point… Erin's my sister and here I'd rather be with some 2 year old who isn't related to us"

"Erin's not related to me, so I don't feel guilty" Brooke smiled shrugging her shoulders.

"Uh huh and if we went and eloped tonight, you'd feel totally guilty, because then she'd be your sister in law"

"Nope… wouldn't have time, your mother would feel it and kill us both before I had the chance for guilt"

"So no eloping in Paris this summer?" Lucas asked kissing her forehead

"Maybe I shouldn't go to Paris"

"What? Why wouldn't you go?"

"If it means leaving you for 8 weeks…" Brooke started but Lucas interrupted. This wasn't what she had hoped for… she wanted him to tell her to stay… not that she should go.

"You don't have to worry about me"

"I'm not worried about you, you're ok without me… I'm the one who's a wreck alone"

"Did you not see me after we broke up?" Lucas laughed remembering how he hadn't gotten dressed for 2 weeks after they had broken up last time.

"Either way… I just don't know if it's good for us"

"Its good for you, so it's good for us ok? Its only 8 weeks"

"You could come out the last week and we can hang out there, I hear its romantic" Brooke sighed wishing he could just come with her for the full 8 weeks.

"Paris romantic?"

"What would you do the whole time I was gone?"

"Work… probably go spend some time with my mom and Keith" Lucas said trying not to think about how dull those 8 weeks were going to be without Brooke.

"Will you still write me?"

"Everyday"

"You'll check on Ella?" Brooke asked… here she was worrying and she didn't even have to leave until the first of July.

"Someone will have to keep me company"

"Can we have Peyton not live with you for those 8 weeks"

"I think Peyton's gonna have her hands kind of full" Lucas laughed pulling Brooke closer to give her some reassurance.

"Right… oh and when I get back we can have really awesome I missed you sex"

"Best kind"

"Better than make up sex?" Brooke asked kinking her eyebrow

"We can make it better"

"But by then all the stupid blonde hussy's will just assume we'd broken up… and they'll be chasing after you"

"Don't even get me started on French guys" Lucas sighed trying not to think about all the French guys that were going to he hitting on his girlfriend while she was there. Maybe they'd all be gay.

"I'll bring a few home for the hussy's"

"Its only fair"

"We'll be ok though right?" Brooke asked getting serious again. She needed him to tell her at least once, that them being apart wouldn't mess anything up between them.

"Pretty girl… are you really going to make me give one of my embarrassing 'why I love you and only want you' speeches tonight?"

"No…"

"I love you for worrying about us" Lucas whispered, brushing her hair out of her face and kissing her.

"You don't worry about us?"

"Why should I? I know I'm gonna marry you"

"And how do you know I'll say yes?" Brooke asked giggling.

"Because you cant resist me…"

"Oh really?"

"Yep, and we're going to have a really big house, with a lot of rooms, then when we've finished with all those rooms… we'll buy a new house, with even more rooms" Lucas laughed

"We'll need them after we spend all of our money on the house, and won't have any money for birth control"

"Its ok… we'll have hott kids, who don't cry"

"I like the sound of that" Brooke sighed, hearing Erin start to whimper again. That was the end of their conversation… at least for now.

"Sounds like Peyton's back"

"I'm gonna go see how dinner went… just swish… ok?"

"Ok…"

Brooke walked into the den, still laughing at Lucas swishing Erin back and forth… to find Peyton on the couch. She looked like she had been crying, but was trying to cover it. These days her cheeks were so chubby from being pregnant and all that Brooke had trouble telling her face was swollen from crying… or if she was just chubby.

"Hey P Sawyer" Brooke smiled plopping down next to her very pregnant friend… she felt really skinny these days living with Peyton.

"Hey"

"What's wrong…"

"Nothing…" Peyton lied… badly.

"I don't believe you"

"Haley and Nathan"

"Oh god…" Brooke sighed propping her feet on the coffee table. This didn't sound good.

"I don't know why I even care"

"What is it…"

"They're getting back together" Peyton finally said after a nice long pause.

"What!"

"Yea"

"Peyton you have to tell him" Brooke said before she could stop herself. This had gone on long enough.

"Why? Brooke…"

"Because he needs to know! Here he is getting back together with Haley and you might be having his baby! This is twisted!"

"It might not be his" Peyton whispered like it was some huge secret.

"It might be"

"Brooke…"

"Peyton you're 7 months pregnant… you don't have a choice" Brooke whispered back, getting really mad at her best friend.

"Can't we wait until it's born?"

"No! They deserve to know… Haley too"

"I just don't understand what made them get back together… I mean they go out for drinks last week and bam… its Naley all over again" Peyton said laying back on the couch. Brooke wasn't sure what was going on here.

"Sometimes you need a few drinks to fall in love or back in love as the case may be, you aren't in love with Nathan are you?"

"I don't know anymore…"


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19! So I would have had this chapter up earlier but working on the new movie The Beautiful Ordinary had me up basically ALL night 3 nights in a row and so I am SOOO drained haha. But I'm finally home and have a chapter for you guys! Enjoy! and THANKS so much for the reviews!

"Oh Boyfriend" Brooke whispered laying on top of Lucas and kissing his bottom lip. He was completely sacked out… a few days with Erin had them both worn out, and they'd been recuperating ever since Karen had come it get her. Recuperating, obviously meaning sex… but that was beside the point. Not only that, but Lucas was having a hard time dealing with everything going on lately… so Brooke decided, they needed to go do something fun… just for them and this was the perfect weekend to do it. They had a 5-day weekend of no work, class, Peyton or anything for that matter… and the beach was sounding really nice.

"What?" Lucas asked wrapping his arms around her.

"Are you well rested?"

"Why…"

"Because we're taking a little road trip, and I plan on using you for whatever dirty things come to mind…" Brooke whispered this time biting his bottom lip. They needed a weekend of fun just to be crazy, have lots of sex, and think about nothing important.

"I like the sound of that"

"I thought you might… come on, lets get out of here before Peyton decides she wants to come too"

"You think its ok to leave her?" Lucas asked… pissing Brooke off to no end, as soon as he said it he regretted it too. He hadn't meant it like that… he'd only said anything just because Peyton was kinda helpless with things lately and he didn't want her to get hurt to something.

"We're not her parents… Lucas don't ruin this, don't you want to go skinny dipping in the ocean with me?"

"It's going to be freezing…"

"Well then we'll just have to keep each other warm, please! Its Tree Hill… it's not THAT cold…" Brooke whined pleading with him to say yes.

"Its just that she's 8 months pregnant Brooke…"

"And if something happens she can call Jake or Nathan… or Pete, whoever the hell that kids father is, we need to go have fun and be 19 while we can"

"Can we not tell my mom we're there?" Lucas asked finally caving in. Brooke was right…plus he really would rather spend the next 5 days with her and just her, rather than stay here playing scrabble with Peyton.

"Most definitely not telling her" Brooke squealed kissing him.

"Hey you 2 wanna… woah sorry"

"Its ok… we don't have sex with our clothes on… come in"

"I was just wondering if you guys wanted to go get" Peyton started but as usual Brooke interrupted.

"Cant… road trip…"

"Nice… where too?"

"Tree Hill" Brooke said excitedly

"Ew"

"Not ew… Fun!"

"When are you leaving?" Peyton asked, kind of puzzled why they were leaving on such short notice…

"Whenever Lucas gets out of bed"

"Or whenever Brooke gets off of me…" Lucas sighed as Brooke kissed him again.

"Wait… what about Ella?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't tell me you 2 forgot" Peyton laughed. This one definitely shocked her… for 2 people who were as involved with a kid as Brooke and Lucas were, to forget what today was, was kinda bad on their part.

"Forgot…"

"Its her birthday"

"So that's what E's BD meant in my planner… ok well then we kidnap her and take her with us" Brooke said figuring Ella had never been to a beach before…

"They aren't going to let us take her for 5 days…"

"True…plus it's kinda hard to have sex with a 2 year old in the room… so we party today and leave tomorrow?"

"We need presents" Lucas said feeling guilty that they had both forgotten. Even with everything they had had going on lately…

"And decorations"

"Oh… and a cake"

"Split up?" Brooke asked finally getting of Lucas so he could get up.

"I'll meet you 2 there at like 12?"

"Sounds good"

Peyton walked down to the bakery to find Ella a cake. Normally she would have had Brooke come with her, but she wasn't really in the mood to hang out with Brooke today. Lately all Brooke had on her mind was her internship and Lucas… which had been nice for a while, hearing Brooke go on and on about how she didn't want to leave Lucas had helped Peyton get her mind off other things… but now it seemed like the more Brooke talked about it, the more Peyton wished she had what Brooke had. Sure Brooke joked about how she and Lucas were going to strangle each other… or how they were going to be too broke to afford birth control. But Peyton wasn't stupid… Both Brooke and Lucas were seriously happy. She knew they'd get married, have kids (probably not in that order at the rate they were going) but they'd be happy nonetheless. They both had good careers going for them… or at least getting started… and most importantly, they both loved each other enough to give all of that up in a second for the other one.

Every time Peyton saw them hug… or hold hands, or watched how Lucas blushed when Brooke kissed his cheek… or even heard how Brooke giggled as Lucas whispered god only knew what, into her ear and then kissed it, it made her jealous… not jealous of _who _Brooke had, she'd learned a long time ago that Lucas definitely wasn't her type… but jealous of _what_ Brooke had. The lyrics to the Saving Jane song… "Girl next door" always popped into Peyton's head when she thought about Brooke. Which was funny because Peyton hated that song… she'd always related it to Brooke and Haley until recently… now she was alone and pregnant… and Brooke and Lucas were playing mommy and daddy to some kid who wasn't even theirs. Talk about karma.

The bakery was empty as usual…just a few random people sitting drinking coffee, and Haley… who Peyton really hadn't expected to see there, but then again she hadn't been able to predict anything lately.

"Hey Hales" Peyton said grabbing Haley's attention away from the pre-made cakes.

"Oh Peyton… hey, you never saw me here"

"Why?"

"I'm surprising Nathan tonight with a romantic dinner and I don't have time to make a cake" Haley whispered… like Nathan was standing right there next to her or something.

"Nice… lie to him about cooking"

"He knows I can cook… so hey, how are you feeling?"

"Ok I guess... I don't know how I'm supposed to be feeling" Peyton laughed trying to think of the last time she saw her feet… or anything below her waist for that matter.

"Right… Can I ask you something?"

"Sure"

"Well… its just that Nathan asked me last night who the babies father was… and I told him it was Jake, but then I realized I hadn't even ever asked… I was just assuming… its Jake right? I mean it's not some stupid college student you had a one night stand with or anything… because if it is I'll totally kick his ass for you" Haley laughed nervously.

"Of course its Jake" Peyton smiled. She didn't have the heart to tell Haley it could be Nathan… she wasn't even sure if Nathan remembered they had slept together… plus Haley seemed so concerned for her, and had helped out so much lately. As much as she hated the thought of Nathan and Haley getting back together, for her sake… she felt bad for wishing bad things for them at the same time.

"Good… come here! Call me if you need anything ok?"

"Definitely…"

After what seemed like endless hours shopping, (technically it was only 30 minutes… but shopping with Brooke always seemed longer than it really was) Lucas and Brooke finally made it to the children's home, equipped with tons of presents and decorations. Usually when they got there, Ella was sitting alone in a corner somewhere… playing with a Barbie or doll. But not today… today she was dressed up, sitting on the edge of her toddler bed, talking to an older couple, maybe in their 40's. Of course that didn't last long…As soon as Ella spotted Brooke and Lucas, she ran over with her long brown curls trailing behind her and jumped into Lucas's arms, completely forgetting about whomever she was talking too.

"I 2" Ella shrieked showing Lucas and Brooke her 2 fingers

"I know baby girl and that's why Lucas and I are here to throw you a fabulous party…"

"With presents" Lucas whispered as he lifted Ella up onto his shoulders, which was her favorite thing to do lately.

"Lots of presents"

"Hi… are you friends of Ella's?" The older lady who was talking to Ella asked, walking over with her husband. Brooke didn't like the looks of her. She was too prim and proper… it reminded her of her mom and how she dressed.

"Oh Patty, Marshall… this is Brooke and Lucas. They volunteered here for a while…"

"We just came to throw her a party for her birthday… don't mind us"

"Why Ella… you didn't tell us it was your birthday, why don't you come and tell Marsh and I all about it?" The lady smiled offering to take Ella from Lucas. Ella wasn't thrilled about this, and neither were Brooke and Lucas. They had never had to share Ella before, and neither of them were planning on sharing her today…

"Nowa…"

"Come on… we haven't finished our chat… we must be polite"

"Uh Uh" Ella whined motioning for Brooke to hold her

"What if… I come with you, and we chat together?" Brooke asked pulling her into her arms. Brooke wanted to hear everything these people had to say to Ella, and find out why they were even there in the first place.

"K"

"Is she your wife?" The man Lucas guessed was Marshall, asked once Brooke and his wife had walked away. This kinda caught Lucas off guard… not so much the question, just the way it was directed… he wasn't like most guys who seemed interested as he asked, this guy sounded like he just wanted to make small talk.

"Future wife"

"Very nice… are you two planning on adopting one day?"

"Uh… we haven't really talked about it" Lucas laughed scratching the back of his head like he always did when he was nervous. He hadn't expected this many up front questions from a perfect stranger.

"Right… sorry I just figured since you were here, … my wife and I are looking to adopt, I've authorized so many adoptions in my time, and now its time for one of my own"

"You authorize them?"

"I'm a judge… my wife has taken a liking to that Ella… pretty little thing, good temperament, doesn't talk much" Marshall smiled watching as Brooke, his wife and Ella talked on the bed.

"Until she wants something…"

"What?"

"She picked it up from Brooke I think… when I take her to the park or to get ice cream she talks constantly" Lucas laughed. He used to think of Ella as quiet… until she had spent enough time with Brooke to know that quiet wasn't going to get her anywhere…

"You guys spend a lot of time with her?"

"Yea…we're kinda attached"

"I could tell by the looks your girlfriend was giving my wife…"

Brooke sat with Ella in her lap on the bed, while the woman tried desperately to get Ella to talk to her. Brooke couldn't really blame Ella for not wanting to talk… after all the woman was talking to her like she was some kind of an idiot… talking to her like Brooke talked to Gucci, like she was a dog or something.

"Now who is that? Come on… tell me! Tell me!"

"Ella… who am I?" Brooke asked rolling her eyes at Patty. This was just too embarrassing to watch any longer.

"My Brooke"

"That's nice…"

"Go play…" Ella whined trying to pull Brooke off the bed towards the toys. Usually Brooke would have gone in a second… they always had fun playing Barbie's together… Brooke taught her tons of things she shouldn't know, and always made her Barbie's have affairs and scandals… but today Brooke was more interested in Patty and Marshall, and why they were here.

"We cant Ellie… but when Peyton gets here we'll have cake!"

"Ella… well that name will definitely have to go. You look like a Morgan"

"What are you talking about… Ella's a fabulous name, Isabella…" Brooke trailed off as the realness of the whole situation set in, these people here actually here to adopt Ella… not just visit, or look into adopting her. This woman clearly had her mind made up and it was making Brooke's stomach churn… and causing her head to hurt worse than it already did.

"Morgan suites a little girl… you spend a lot of time with her, I can tell"

"Yea… Lucas and I decided we needed someone else to spoil other than each other"

"Well… spoiling can be un-done too, tell me about her, so when we get her home" Patty smiled. She seemed sincere enough… she was clearly interested in Ella, and knowing all about her… but that didn't mean Brooke was going to tell her anything… at least not anything true.

"Home?"

"My husband and I are looking into adopting her… we've always wanted a daughter but work seemed to get in the way" Patty smiled…. Confirming Brooke's biggest fears. She could tell by the look on Lucas's face as he talked to Marshall… he had come to the same realization.

"You don't want her… seriously… she's like scrawny"

"We can fatten her up"

"Well… she, um… she likes to burn things" Brooke said trying to think of anything to make Ella as un-appealing as possible.

"Nonsense"

"She has an STD"

"At the age of 2?" Patty laughed, this time she was doing the eye rolling. Brooke felt completely helpless… this was the first time in a long time she couldn't do anything to stop what was happening… it wasn't like she and Lucas could say 'hey! Ok… lets adopt Ella' 1. They were only 19… and 2. They definitely weren't ready for the job of full time parenting.

"I always heard they start younger in New York"

"How old are you?"

"19…" Brooke sighed. She knew that Patty knew what she was thinking… it wasn't like she was being subtle.

"You're still a child yourself, I could adopt you… She'll be happier this way"

"Sorry I'm late… Hey Ella" Peyton panted carrying in the very pink cake and breaking up the awkward conversation.

"Peyon!"

"Lets get this party started…Wow, what's with you and Lucas looking like someone died"

"Headache…" Brooke whispered wiping her eyes

"Hol me" Ella whined clinging to Brooke's legs.

"Ok… are you ready to sing?"

The rest of the afternoon was spent opening presents and playing. Ella rotated between Brooke and Lucas… usually staying with whichever one was offering the most attention. But Brooke and Lucas were both pre-occupied with the fact that Patty and Marshall had left ½ way through the party to go and talk to some of the staff. Neither Brooke nor Lucas had talked about it yet… but they could tell what the other one was thinking… so much so they didn't really talk through the whole party. Brooke had a headache and wasn't in the mood to hear Lucas tell her for the 100th time, how they were young and there was nothing they could do to stop these people… Brooke was actually enjoying her little denial session she was having over in the corner with Peyton, the denial queen. She'd actually plotted a way to run the odd couple as she called them, out of the country before Lucas had interrupted her thoughts.

"Hey… you ok? You're looking kinda pale" Lucas asked sighed sitting down next to Brooke on the cold tile floor. She looked like she was off in some sort of a daze.

"Thanks… that's the best compliment I've had all day"

"Sorry, you ready to head home?"

"You mean before the stepford family?" Brooke sighed playing with her fingernails so she didn't have to look at Lucas. She was actually kinda pissed off at him… although she wasn't sure why. He hadn't done anything… and he did have his arm around her rubbing her shoulder, which always made her feel better. But not right now, she felt more like punching him or yelling at him… or something to get her frustration out.

"Its not like they'll be able to do anything today… there's a whole process, and Ella's sacked out, she'll never even know we left"

"I know…"

"We can go pack for tomorrow…" Lucas said hoping that would make her feel a little better… no such luck.

"I'm not really in the mood"

"We knew this could happen Brooke"

"Not now… please, I'm not really up for the whole speech about how we're only 19 and we knew this would happen" Brooke sighed leaning into his shoulder. Really she just wanted to go home and cry…and maybe hit something.

"I hate it as much as you do…but we can't let something control our lives, that we have no control over"

"You've been going over this in your head all day haven't you?"

"Sorta…" Lucas laughed, it wasn't supposed to make Brooke laugh, but it did.

"What if…we get fake ID's and tell them we're like…. 30?"

"Somehow I doubt that one is gonna work"

"We could always like… kidnap her and move to like, Tahiti" Brooke sighed. Actually she really wanted to go to Tahiti…

"We don't have the money to move to Tahiti"

"Right… being 19 sucks"

"We could be 40…" Lucas laughed trying to help her see the bright side.

"You know what I was thinking about?" Brooke asked, deciding to play it serious for a minute. She'd had this on her mind for a while now…

"What?"

"If I had been pregnant Jr year… Ella's almost the same age that baby would have been"

"Are you trying to tell me something?" Lucas asked giving her his squinty look

"No… Its just I was so sure then, that if I was pregnant that I didn't want it"

"Look at how different things were though… we weren't even legal, or together at the time"

"I know… its just weird how much things can change in just 2 years ya know? I used to think about that scare everyday… try to imagine the different ways it could have played out… the best at the time was I killed Peyton" Brooke giggled, forgetting that Peyton was only like 2 feet away.

"Bitter…"

"Just a tiny bit… but the point is… at some point, I just stopped thinking about it, and haven't thought about it again until today actually… what if 2 years from now we completely forget about all of this?"

"Then hopefully we'll be happy enough then that we wont have to look back on this" Lucas smiled, not totally sure what he had just said… but it seemed to help whatever it meant.

"Your cryptic lines kill me"

"Lets get home… I was promised sex this weekend"

"Uh huh… because we've definitely been lacking in that department since classes ended" Brooke laughed sarcastically. They never had sex after serious conversations anyway… at least not ones that had mentions of pregnancy scares in them. They'd go home and maybe do something semi productive… or at least get some work done so they didn't have to live off of rice for the next month.

"We'll come back tomorrow and visit… just incase"


	20. Chapter 20

Hey guys! So I need your advice. For my next story... I'm kinda torn. I actually have 2 ideas and I'm not sure which to do. One story takes place RIGHT after the season finale, Brooke's pregnant, Peyton's a whore, Rachel and Brooke are kinda friends, ect; Its really heart felt, tear jerker, not everything is perfect. The people who have read what I have so far REALLY like this one, but I dont know if you guys are getting tired of thebaby storylines or what.

Then in the 2nd one, which no one has read yet because it has about 2 pages so far (haha) It takes placeabout a month after the finale, The only pregnant person is Karen, Brooke and Lucas are NOT together (Brooke needed more time or something) Its got the whole Lucas, Brooke, Peyton triangle. I've never really written one like this so I have no idea what way I'll end up taking it. Obviously Lucas will NEVER be in love with Peyton in ANY of my stories, but I could take this one in different directions then I have before.

Anyways! You guys think on it and leave in your reviews what you'd rather read. I can do either or, I'm just not sure I'd have time to do both. So majority will win. Both stories are NEW, Fresh, stuff I've never really gotten into before. Hahha they arent as soapy and happy as they usually are but I think they're something different to read! ANyways! Let me know! Thanks so much! and enjoy this chapter!

"Come here Gucci… come on" Brooke whined at the puppy trying to get it to come t o her instead of Lucas. The time had come that they had to pick just 1 name for the dog…

"Nope… come here Sherlock"

"You guys are killing that poor dog…" Peyton laughed watching as they went back and forth calling the dog… meanwhile it just sat in Ella's lap as she patted his head.

"He has to learn his name"

"Which he is never going to do if you keep calling him Gucci"

"Or if you keep calling him Sherlock" Brooke snorted rolling her eyes at him. This was pointless… neither of them were ever going to cave when it came to naming the dog.

"Doggie" Ella laughed as the puppy licked her face.

"Ella… you're not helping…"

"Maybe you should combine the 2 names?"

"Into what… Guchlock or Sherucci… they sound like German pornos" Brooke sighed feeling completely hopeless.

"Let Ella name him then, since she obviously gets the dog to come to her"

"Ella… what's the dogs name?"

"Doggie" Ella giggled

"Good one Peyton…"

"So what are you naming that kid anyway… since you're so smart when it comes to this stuff"

"Maybe you should ask Ella" Lucas sighed, feeling as frustrated with the situation as Brooke.

"I've got ideas… you wont like them"

"Who says?"

"Brooke… You want to name your kids Isabella and Tristan because you've seen Legends of the fall way to many times… and Lucas you want to name yours Summerset and Tennessee because of your books… its all about what you're into…" Peyton trailed off trying to change the subject. She wasn't really ready to go public with her baby names yet. It all made it seem too real and soon…

"We're not naming our kids Summerset and Tennessee" Brooke whispered patting Lucas's shoulder.

"Then let me name the dog"

"Come on Peyton… Tell us"

"You can't laugh" Peyton sighed figuring she might as well tell them. They were obviously going to find out at some point anyway…

"Why would we laugh?"

"For a girl… I like Lyric or Melody… for a boy Stanza or Reed"

"Somehow Tennessee doesn't sound so bad anymore" Brooke whispered trying hard not to laugh. The names were very… Peyton style. They all had something to do with music.

"Don't you hate walking around with a name that everyone else has? I mean seriously how many Brooke, Peyton, and Lucas's are there in the world?"

"A lot…"

"So maybe I want my baby to be different…" Peyton said completely sure of herself. That made Brooke happy… at least she was finally sure about one thing… even if it was only the babies name.

"But Lyric?"

"I like Music…"

"It's your kid… but maybe you should consult Nathan… or Jake… for the baby's sake" Brooke said still trying not to laugh… and she had thought Lucas's baby names were bad.

"You're so lucky I'm too fat to get up" Peyton laughed as the doorbell rang.

"Guess that's them" Brooke sighed looking over to make sure Ella was dressed in her cutest summer dress. Over the past few weeks Brooke and Lucas had been 'borrowing' her from the children's home almost everyday. She and Lucas had decided since she was probably going to get adopted, and since Brooke left for her internship in a few weeks, they should spend as much time with her as they could before it all went to hell. It was fine until Marshall and Patty started their visitation…, which was where they spent a few hours a day with Ella to get her used to them. That cut into Ella time majorly…it had helped a little since they now just picked Ella up at the apartment… and always brought her back wearing some hideous outfit. Brooke was just counting the days until they cut her beautiful soft brown curls… and then she'd have to kill them

"Uh oh"

"Uh Oh's right… you ready to go?" Brooke asked pulling little Ella into her arms.

"Nowa…I stay hwere"

"You have to go play with Patty and Marshall now"

"Hey Brooke… is she ready?" Marshall asked giving Brooke a quick hug. She actually liked him… he was what she always imagined her dad should have been like… nice, fun… maybe trying a little too hard, but over all Brooke and Lucas didn't actually mind Ella with him. It was Patty who was the over-bearing bitch in the family… she hated the fact that Ella was with Brooke and Lucas, and the fact that Ella liked Brooke and Lucas better than her.

"Nowa… I don want too"

"Come Ella"

"Patty… let her tell them bye" Marshall snapped quietly to his wife. Clearly he wasn't as opposed to Brooke and Lucas's relationship with Ella as patty was. He was always helping Brooke and Lucas out when it came to this stuff.

"Nowa"

"Hey Ella… what if Patty and I bring you back over here for dinner?"

"Marshall… We cant" Patty snapped back, looking completely mortified that her husband would suggest such a thing.

"I think we can… Brooke can you cook?"

"No…" Lucas answered for her

"I can try…"

"We'll bring something back"

"We'll see you later El… be good ok?" Lucas smiled giving Ella a quick hug. She didn't look happy at all… but at this point she'd learned that even if she did kick and scream… she still had to go with them.

"Thanks guys…"

"How did a guy like that end up with a woman like her?" Lucas asked once they were out the door and down a few stairs.

"Lucas, have you looked at your girlfriend lately?"

"Ouch…"

"Yes, but my girlfriends beautiful" Lucas smiled wrapping his arms around Brooke's waist.

"You two make me si- - ow…"

"What's wrong…"

"Nothing…baby just kicked" Peyton laughed. She'd been scaring Brooke and Lucas all week. Every little noise she made, they assumed meant she was having the baby.

"That has to feel so gross"

"You have no idea"

"Howdy ho… and Lucas and Peyton" Haley said bursting through the door with Nathan… somehow New York was turning into Tree Hill as in no one ever knocked… ever.

"Why do we have such weird friends?"

"Hey… he used to be weird too"

"Until I trained him…" Brooke giggled kissing Lucas

"By training him you mean stealing his virginity?"

"Lets not be jealous Haley"

"What are you guys up too?" Nathan asked trying to change the subject, apparently talk of his wife/girlfriend/whatever they were being jealous of Brooke with Lucas was too much to handle

"We should go eat… I'm seriously like craving Chinese"

"Ew…"

"Just me then… come on Boyfriend, you can buy your favorite girlfriend some food" Brooke smiled dragging Lucas to the door. All that dog training had worn her out.

"My favorite girlfriend?"

"Yea… wait… am I the only one with multiple partners in this relationship?" Brooke asked kissing him as they made their way out the door.

"How do those 2 not make each other sick?"

"Who knows… I'm gonna run down to the bakery and grab some bread and stuff for us to eat… Peyton, any requests?"

"Take me with you?"

"Nope… but I will leave Nathan here with you so you wont be alone… I'll be back"

Peyton and Nathan sat in silence for a few minutes. Peyton didn't really know what to say to him… Nathan was a quiet guy as it was, but the fact that he was sitting there with her, probably made things worse. Then again she had no idea if he even had any clue…

"So…"

"So…"

"How long do you give it before Brooke's pregnant?" Nathan asked trying to make small talk. Brooke jokes always seemed to work… at least with Peyton.

"She and Lucas are actually pretty responsible about it believe it or not…"

"That's good…"

"Yea" Peyton laughed… then it got quiet again.

"I give it 6 months"

"Nathan!"

"Hey… I didn't say it was Lucas's baby" Nathan smiled, blushing a little bit.

"You're terrible…"

"Just trying to think of something to make them less happy and perky all the time"

"I hear ya…" Peyton sighed, happy to know that she wasn't the only one that wished she had what Brooke and Lucas had. After a minute of laughing there was another long pause…

"Do they know the baby might be mine?" Nathan finally asked, catching Peyton completely off guard.

"I"

"I'm sorry I didn't say anything before, I was trying to convince myself that it couldn't be…"

"Same here…" Peyton sighed, still in utter shock that he had thrown that one at her.

"Does anyone know?"

"Brooke and Lucas"

"Figures" Nathan laughed. Peyton couldn't tell if he was mad… or just upset… maybe a little of both.

"I had to tell someone"

"You could have told me"

"Yes… but then I would have had to tell Jake" Peyton said, her heart starting to hurt a little at the thought of Jake and how much she missed him.

"That guy just cant keep it in his pants can he?"

"He'd be here if he knew"

"I knew… and I wasn't until now" Nathan asked. Peyton had decided he was definitely mad… maybe not so much at her, but just mad in general pretty much covered it.

"You're not Jake"

"We need to find out if the babies mine Peyton" Nathan yelled, not believing what Peyton had just said to him… Peyton had a blank terrified look on her face… at first he thought it was because he had yelled, he hadn't meant to go that crazy… but then he saw what Peyton saw, out of the corner of his eye.

"The elevator's stuck"

"Haley…"

Brooke and Lucas sat in the elevator kinda staring at the ceiling. Brooke was of course in his lap. They were both extra clingy lately… with Brooke's impending trip less than 2 weeks away, they were both worrying… Brooke tried not to get upset about it. She spent the days telling herself she'd be ok without Lucas for a little while, maybe it would even be good for them. Then night would come, and all it took was for him to wrap his arms around her as they slept for her to know she definitely wasn't going to be ok. It hurt just thinking about it. But of course, in famous Brooke and Lucas style… neither of them talked about it… in fact they avoided it like the plague. But it was getting too close for it not to be obvious what was on both of their minds, even if the other one said nothing.

"Good thing you're on my elevator list" Brooke sighed playing with the buttons on Lucas's shirt.

"We can't have sex in the elevator"

"Why?"

"Its too cliché" Lucas laughed rolling his eyes at Brooke. This was probably her dream come true, and he was saying no…

"So?"

"So… its like bad luck or something"

"Its bad luck not too…it is kinda gross though" Brooke gagged looking at the floor they were sitting on.

"And it's hot as hell in here already…"

"Great… my cell has no signal in here"

"So we wait?" Lucas asked, knowing this was driving her crazy.

"We could play game"

"With just us?"

"Why not? Ok… take your shirt off" Brooke smiled deciding she was going to get him naked one way or the other… then they'd have to have sex… hopefully he'd be dumb enough to fall for it.

"Why?"

"Just do it"

"Here…now what?" Lucas asked, knowing exactly what Brooke was doing… what she didn't know was he could play dirty too.

"I don't know… its just much more fun to be stuck in an elevator with you shirtless"

"Your turn"

"What?" Brooke asked confused… what did he mean, her turn…

"Shirt for a shirt"

"Happy? Now your pants then"

"How is this not going to lead to sex?" Lucas asked shaking his head at her. She was just grinning, making him wonder why he was saying no to sex with her in the elevator.

"Because we don't have a condom…"

"Fine… now yours"

"Fine"

"We're so lame… of course we're having sex in the elevator" Lucas sighed kissing Brooke. He wasn't even sure why he tried to be responsible with her… what was the point? As long as they were using protection what did it matter… plus he was getting ready to loose her for the rest of the summer, so they needed this. He ran his fingers up her back to un-hook her bra as she kissed him hard. He was seriously living every guys dream right now as she ran her fingers though his hair, still kissing him. But of course, this was just all way too perfect.

"DON'T TALK TO ME"

"Haley?" Brooke asked pulling away from Lucas's lips at the sound of Haley's voice.

"Haley! I'm sorry, I didn't know!"

"Are we still on our floor?"

"Haley… wait, he isn't lying!" Brooke heard Peyton yell. She was guessing they were all in front of the elevator because their words were crystal clear.

"This sounds bad"

"PEYTON! BROOKE WAS RIGHT WHEN SHE SAID YOU WERE A WHORE"

"That was like 2 years ago!" Brooke whispered pissed that Haley would use that.

"Right…and when Brooke said you were a selfish little slut… she was right about you too"

"Why are they bringing me into this"

"Because they don't know we're in here…" Lucas sighed preparing himself for a long day… even if they did get out of here anytime soon, they had all the drama outside waiting for them. He was guessing it was a good thing they were stuck in here.

"Shit" Brooke heard Peyton cry.

"That sounded bad…"

"What's wrong?" Nathan asked sounding really concerned. Brooke and Lucas were starting to get nervous…

"My water just broke"

"Have fun delivering YOUR baby!" Haley screamed beating on the elevator door. Brooke guessed she didn't know it was jammed or something.

"Someone call 911"

"10 bucks says it's a girl"

"You're on"

The next few hours passed by pretty slow… Peyton screaming in pain, Haley screaming at Nathan, Nathan screaming because he didn't know what to do, and Brooke and Lucas stuck in the elevator listening to it all… Brooke was starting to wonder why someone hadn't suggested to take Peyton down the stairs to get her out… but apparently her friends didn't have that much common sense when it came to these things… but she was really worried about Peyton. She and Lucas had tried yelling for a few minutes… but apparently Nathan, Haley and Peyton were deaf… or just ignoring them. Either way… they were all pretty much screwed.

"This sounds painful… are you sure you really need kids one day?" Brooke asked trying to ignore Peyton's moaning and screaming… she'd never heard anything like it, I mean she'd seen stuff on TV, and films in class… but it sounded so much worse in person.

"Uh…not so much"

"Good… because it isn't happening"

"What do you thinks going on?" Lucas asked trying to imagine what was going on out there. It still sounded like just Peyton, Haley and Nathan…

"I don't think she's like… having it, I mean maybe? I don't know!"

"DON'T TOUCH ME"

"She sounds violent" Brooke shuddered sliding closer to Lucas. This whole thing was giving her chills and making her feel nauseous.

"I feel bad for her… I mean this changes everything in her life, and to have it happen like this?"

"You're mom did ok"

"Yea… but I know if she'd had the choice back then she wouldn't have had me, just like would you willingly choose to be pregnant right now?" Lucas asked, already knowing Brooke's answer. They'd had this conversation what seemed like a million times.

"No… but if I were I wouldn't spend all my time thinking about what if, ya know? When we have kids I want everything to be perfect but if its not… we'll deal with it, I don't want to end up bitter about it like my parents were"

"You think Peyton will end up bitter?"

"I don't know"

"Peyton, we're here to help" A voice said outside. It wasn't Haley or Nathan…

"Whose that?"

"Paramedic maybe?"

"How long before you can get that elevator open?" Another voice asked. Brooke and Lucas could hear a lot of footsteps now… and less crying from Peyton.

"Few more minutes"

"It hurts"

"No duh…" Haley muttered, personally Brooke couldn't believe she was being a smart ass at a time like this, but then again she didn't really blame her.

"Ok Peyton on the count of 3"

"Ew… why are having to hear this?"

"Maybe it's a sign we should have less sex?" Lucas asked leaning his head against the elevator door.

"Are you kidding me? We're never having sex again" Brooke said over Peyton's muffled screaming

"One more time Peyton"

"At least we aren't having to watch"

"Ok… Good job Peyton" The voice said as Peyton screamed. Brooke was definitely sure she was never doing this now. Nothing like having to hear it…

"God… what's that baby doing to Peyton?"

"It's a Girl!"

"What are you doing?" Lucas asked watching as Brooke stood up and waited… as if something else were going to happen.

"Waiting for the door to open…"

"What? Brooke… we're stuck in here"

"It always works on 7th Heaven" Brooke sighed sitting back into Lucas's arms. This completely sucked… here they had to listen to all the crappy screaming and crying… and now they didn't even get to see the good part.

"This isn't 7th Heaven…"

"It got so quiet"

"It wont be much longer after she says the kids name is Lyric" Lucas laughed wrapping his arms around Brooke. Right now everything seemed good, it was good. At least for them. Their biggest problem was Brooke's internship and compared to all of their friends, that wasn't a real problem… that was Brooke being lucky and talented as usual. It was almost too calm as Lucas sat there with her… like the calm before a storm, and if that saying was any bit true… the storm was going to be a big one.


	21. Chapter 21

Hey guys! So the 1st story idea definitely won by a landslide... haha whichi is good for me because I already have like 5 chapters of it written, and I have yet to write the last one to this one, so I should probably get on that! Anyways! Thanks SOO much for the reviews and input! I really appreciate it and I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

"How's Brooke? She wasn't her usually perky self this morning…" Marshall sighed watching as Lucas pushed Ella back and forth in the swing at the park. Lucas left Brooke at home with Peyton, Larry… and of course baby Lyric Sawyer to help pack, Brooke for Paris and Peyton for home. After talking about it, Peyton and Larry both agreed that maybe she'd have an easier time adjusting to being a mother if she were home with her dad. Which meant Lucas was going to be in New York alone all summer, at least until Lyric's paternity test was back and Haley kicked Nathan out for good. Or maybe it was Jake's baby… either way Lucas still had a feeling Nathan was going to be out on his ass.

"She had the flu last week and now having to pack… she's pretty much unbearable to live with…"

"She perked up some when she saw Ella"

"That's because Ella takes her crap" Lucas laughed shaking his head. Brooke had been so stressed lately with her upcoming trip… not to mention none of them had had any sleep in the past 3 weeks. Lyric was really living up to her musical name… screaming 24/7 and Brooke definitely wasn't dealing with it well and was driving everyone around her crazy.

"You don't take her crap?"

"Depends… we're kinda been at each others throats the past few days, she pulled the whole 'You only want me to go so you can sleep with Peyton while I'm gone' line… I swear she's psychotic. I want her to go because I know its good for her and she's going to regret it if she doesn't"

"Women are crazy things… enjoy her while she's still hott, because after they loose their looks… there's nothing to them" Marshall laughed, finding it funny how much this was getting to Lucas. He was guessing that Brooke and Lucas must not have fought very much.

"99 of the time she is my best friend, I'd do anything for her… but that other 1 she worries me to death"

"What fun would life be without that other 1? Be glad its not the other way around, you 2 are just fighting because she's leaving… you're both going to miss each other and you're young and stupid and wont admit it… so what did Peyton name that baby anyway?"

"Anna Lyric Sawyer" Lucas sighed still trying to figure that one out…

"Brooke want one yet?"

"You're lucky Brooke hasn't run away with Ella yet…"

"You 2 are really good with her you know, you're going to make great parents one day" Marshall smiled patting Lucas on the shoulder. He usually avoided the college crowd, being a judge and a man in his 40's… but Lucas and Brooke definitely weren't your typical college students… and since he'd never had a son of his own, it made him feel good to give Lucas advice when it came to things like this.

"If Brooke doesn't smoother me in my sleep first… where's Patty today anyway?"

"She… had some things to take care of"

Brooke sat on her bed wanting to cry, in fact she could feel the tears swelling in her eyes… again. This whole week had been way too stressful for her, and it wasn't helping that she and Lucas were about ready to kill each other… plus the screaming baby, and Peyton's over the top hormones, Brooke was starting to wonder why she wasn't more excited to get out of this hell hole. She wished she could just get everything packed already so she could meet Lucas and Marshall at the park with Ella… At least Ella listened to her and made her feel better… All Larry and Peyton were doing was whining over the whiney baby.

"Hey Brooke… you need any help?" Larry asked starring at the demolished room. Brooke had clothes scattered from one end of the room to the other, this definitely wasn't the Brooke he had known since the age of 6.

"I don't know anymore…"

"What's wrong?"

"I'm still debating if I really want to do this…" Brooke sighed looking down at her half empty suitcase. What was she talking about? It wasn't even debating anymore… she knew she didn't want to go to some strange country with people who didn't even speak the same language as her. The only reason she was even considering this was because Lucas was so proud of her for getting it.

"Why? Brooke… as your former hot dad crush, I'm not giving you the choice"

"Larry…"

"Brooke… no, I'm telling you the same thing I'd tell Peyton. Lucas is just a boy" Larry smiled, knowing it always came back to the same thing with his girls… and sadly… it was usually the same boy too. Lucas had this affect on both Brooke and Peyton… he had since high school. He made them both want to be everything they could. Selfishly in when the girls were in high school Larry had wanted Lucas and Peyton together, just because he seemed to help Peyton through so much… but it was clear now who Lucas wanted… and who Brooke needed.

"Who says…"

"We both know that's who this is about, if you didn't have him… would you think twice about going?"

"No…" Brooke said letting out a bigger sigh.

"See"

"But if I didn't have him, I might not even have the opportunity to go… he's everything to me and if this trip means messing us up, then it's not worth it"

"What does Lucas want?" Larry asked knowing this would knock some sense into Brooke. Lucas wanted Brooke to go, everyone wanted Brooke to go… except Brooke.

"He says he wants me to go…"

"Then go"

"You'll keep Peyton away from him?" Brooke finally asked giving up on fighting it… it was pointless. She'd just have to come up with a really good reason not to go… maybe some terrible disease.

"I swear… I'm sewing underwear on that girl"

"If this goes bad… I'm hunting you down Papa Peyton"

"You wont even have to hunt… now finish packing"

Lucas sat on the part bench with Ella while she explained to him about the "duckies" in the pond. Usually Marshall and Patty were all up under him trying to get Ella to talk to them too, but not today. Patty wasn't even there, and hadn't been all day… and Marshall seemed so pre-occupied about something that Lucas could have said or done anything… and Marshall really wouldn't have cared. He just kept asking Lucas a bunch of weird questions about his mom and the rest of his family, things about Brooke and her family… some things that Lucas didn't even know the answer too. Either way it was starting to creep him out.

"Dree duckies" Ella giggled holding up only 2 fingers, she definitely hadn't mastered counting yet.

"3? Did you count them all by yourself?"

"Yeaya… go plway"

"Why don't you go build me something in the sandbox?" Lucas asked figuring she should probably try and find out what was wrong with Marshall.

"Okays"

"How are you and Brooke financially?"

"Um… fine I guess?" Lucas said, shocked by yet another completely forward question.

"Between you're writing and her clothes… you make a steady income right?"

"Yea… it's not bad"

"How long before you give that girl a ring?" Marshall asked, again catching Lucas off guard. His mother didn't even ask him these kind of questions…

"When she gets back…"

"Why not surprise her?"

"She wants to pick it out… its some ring that matches the one I gave her for Christmas" Lucas said, starting to get kind of weirded out by Marshall's questions.

"So you know what it looks like? You could buy it if you needed too?"

"Yea, I guess… with the way she's been lately she might just kill me"

"But you could…" Marshall asked… Lucas could tell he was thinking really hard about something.

"Yea…"

"And Brooke really doesn't want to go this summer?"

"She says she doesn't… she's been looking for an excuse for days now" Lucas laughed wondering what she would have come up with by the time they got home this afternoon.

"Then why is she going?"

"Because she has no reason not too"

"I have a very powerful job … you know that right?" Marshall asked. Changing his tone completely…

"Sure?"

"Patty left yesterday morning Lucas… packed her bags, left a note… she's not coming back"

"I'm so sorry" Lucas was completely shocked. He knew they didn't really get along… but he figured that was just something that happened after being married that long.

"Ella's adoption papers… I can't… and I don't want to raise a child by myself… I know that she'd be better off with 2 parents… I'm willing to make you and Brooke a deal, that is if you want it. You're 19… way too young for me to be doing this… the trouble I could get into is un-heard of, but if you and Brooke want her… I can make it happen"

Lucas didn't know what to say… in fact for a second he wasn't sure he was even hearing Marshall right… of course he and Brooke wanted Ella, but it was a want, like something you cant have… the thought of actually getting her hadn't even ever crossed his mind.

"You'd have to be checked up on once a month… at least for the first few, I could do that… just to minimize anyone saying it wouldn't work…You're financially sound, you have a nice place, supportive family, and you two love her… I'd rather see her with you two, 19 or not… then with some family with 3 other kids that she doesn't know… things might be easier if you gave Brooke a ring though…" Marshall sighed scratching his chin. He had put a lot of thought into this…Sure Lucas and Brooke were 19, in college and not married… but whose to say they'd have any more trouble than some 30 year old couple married for 10 years… as far as he could tell, Brooke and Lucas seemed like fit parents… 19 or not.

"I can do that… this, this is legal right?"

"There's no law saying you can't be 19 and adopt… but of course we never have 19 year olds wanting to adopt…It's the same as a 19 year olds parents getting killed, and they get custody of their younger siblings… we just provide assistance if they may need it. Since we already have papers, and I'm the man to come to in this state for adoptions… we shouldn't have a problem, my best friend Mark's a social worker, I've been telling him about you guys… he's hesitant about signing… but he owes me a few favors…and of course I am going to want some kind of grandpa status"

"Of course" Lucas said, still not able to come up with anything but simple answers.

"Now I need you to think about this… talk to Brooke, take Ella with you, really think about this… if you cant, or you're not ready… then you're not and I don't want you to do it… but if you can be 100 sure, then she's yours."

Brooke sat in the completely uncomfortable chairs in the doctors office waiting room. She found it completely ridiculous that they'd make her have a physical before leaving the country… she had her own doctors at home she trusted more then these people in New York… maybe that was a reason not to go. Actually she liked that one… the doctors here were crazy and wouldn't let her go! Lucas definitely couldn't argue with that one.

"Brooke Davis?" A nurse finally called from the door. It was about time… this had definitely given Brooke way too much time to sit and brood… she was starting to feel like Lucas.

"Here we go…"

"Ok sweetie… all we need to do is just run a few tests, make sure you're ok to fly and what not"

"Sure…" Brooke sighed sitting down on the table.

"Any problems I should know about?"

"Nope… but if you wanted to tell me I just couldn't go… that would be ok"

"Sexually active?" The nurse asked ignoring Brooke.

"Yes"

"No cell phones"

"Sorry… it's my boyfriend" Brooke said turning her phone on vibrate. She wasn't really in the mood to talk to him right now anyway… with her luck she'd just start crying again.

"Can he wait?"

"Guess so…"

"Any drug use?" The nurse asked making marks all over Brooke's chart.

"No"

"Drinking? In the last 48 hours?"

"Sadly… no" Brooke sighed… maybe she and Lucas would go out tonight… they probably couldn't drink since fake Ids weren't exactly working for them here in New York, but at least she'd get to spend some time with him.

"Are you an alcoholic?"

"No!"

"Well then take this seriously…how many sexual partners in the past year?" The nurse asked. Brooke really wanted to slap her now… was she an alcoholic… stupid whore, Brooke wondered how many sexual partners she'd had in the past year… probably 0.

"1"

"Are you sure?"

"I think I'd remember if I slept with someone else… thank you" Brooke sighed shaking her head… this was completely pointless.

"Ok, we're just going to take some blood…"

After trying Brooke about 10 times, Lucas gave up and took Ella to run some errands with him. He'd come up with the perfect plan, he'd buy the ring Brooke wanted… and make Ella give it to her… that way, she really couldn't get mad. Not that he thought she would anyway… She was getting the 3 things she wanted more than anything in 1 day… She didn't have to go to Paris, plus she was getting Ella and a ring. The more Lucas thought about it, the more nervous he got about the whole thing. His mother was going to kill him, not to mention everyone he knew was going to think they were crazy. But it wasn't that big of a deal… They usually had Ella 3 days a week anyway, and it wasn't like they had any other responsibilities other than the dog… plus they'd have the whole summer to get used to having her there, and they'd deal with everything else in the fall. Lucas just wished it was going to be as easy as it sounded…

"Ok… we're getting ready to spend a god awful amount of money on a ring, so when we have no money to send you to college one day… this is why" Lucas laughed picking Ella up so she could see all the jewelry in the case.

"Pwretty"

"For $200, I wish Brooke would agree with you on that one… ok that's the one, you like it?"

"Nowa… that one" Ella said pointing back to the pink heart shape necklace.

"Unless you want to see me die today… it has to be this one, sorry babe"

"Bwut its pwink"

"But Brooke wants blue in hers" Lucas laughed showing her the ring again.

"I want pwinks"

"But it's not a ring…"

"I wear its" Ella smiled, of course making Lucas give in… he guessed he was going to have to learn how to say no at some point, but not today.

"You'll wear it? Somehow I don't doubt that"

"Can I help you?" A man asked from behind the counter.

"Um… let me get the pink heart"

"Fwor me"

"For you…" Lucas laughed shaking his head at her. She was more excited over the necklace then anything else they'd ever gotten her. He guessed she probably hadn't ever had a piece of jewelry, except her earrings from when Brooke got her ears pierced.

"Sir… this isn't really children's jewelry"

"I nwot chilrens, I Ella"

"You're sure?" The man asked giving Lucas one last chance to say no, but Ella already had her hands around Lucas's neck hugging him and grinning.

"Special occasion…"

"Anything else?"

"That ring"

Brooke laid at home on the couch flipping through her itinerary for the trip. It was full of nothing but work it seemed like… she wasn't sure when she was even going to get to see Paris! All of this was giving her another headache… plus she was starving. Larry and Peyton had left with Lyric about a ½ hour ago… stealing all the descent food in the house, and since Lucas wasn't home yet she didn't want to do anything… in case he wanted to go out or something. Finally she heard the doorknob turn and Lucas and Ella appeared. It was about time…

"Hey baby girl… boyfriend… nice to see you finally decided to come home" Brooke sighed not bothering to get up… for as long as she had waited today they could come to her.

"We had some stuff to take care of…"

"I'm sure…"

"Feeling better?" Lucas asked kissing her forehead; she still looked a little pale from last week and she was definitely still kind of whiney.

"Yea… Ella, look at that necklace! It's so pretty… did that whore Patty give it to you?"

"Nowa…" Ella laughed climbing into Brooke's lap.

"It was all me"

"Wow… you've got him more whipped than I thought, good job girlie"

"Where is everyone?" Lucas asked noticing how unusually quiet the place was without a screaming baby.

"The apartment is officially ours… Peyton and Larry left with Lyric about 30 minutes ago"

"Sucks that we have all these extra bedrooms…"

"I guess I can decorate them when I get back or something… maybe Nathan will need a room… maybe Gucci should have his own room" Brooke giggled waiting for him to start arguing that his name was Sherlock.

"Its gonna be so quiet here without Lyric"

"Peace…"

"At least the bedrooms already pink" Lucas sighed thoroughly confusing Brooke, but she wasn't in the mood to de-code his cryptic little messages tonight, she just wanted him to keep rubbing her back the way he was.

"I likes pwink"

"I know you do, you're wearing $200 worth of it"

"Lucas… why won't my E-ticket come up online? I've gotta check in" Brooke whined ready to throw down her lap top and let Ella jump on it.

"Because Ella and I cancelled it"

"What?"

"And we bought you something even better…" Lucas smiled handing Ella the ring box to give to Brooke

"I buyed it"

"Oh My God…" Brooke gasped almost dropping the box after she opened it. Inside was of course, her blue and white diamond platinum ring… 3 times bigger than the one on her finger. She definitely hadn't been expecting that. With all Lucas's talk lately about how they needed to wait until they were at least 21, and such… he'd really blind-sided her.

"See… now that's why we got her the blue one…" Lucas whispered to Ella who was sitting in his lap watching.

"Lucas… I, Oh my god"

"She happy?" Ella asked apparently confused by Brooke's lack of response to the ring.

"I think so…"

"I thought… I thought we were going to wait"

"I was going to take you to get it when you got back from Paris anyway… but this way… you get the ring and Ella" Lucas said waiting for Brooke to watch on… she was still pretty much speechless at this point.

"What?"

"Give her the letter Ella"

"_Dear Brooke, hope Lucas did good on the ring, I couldn't help him with that… but I can with this, enjoy you're fiancé, and you're new daughter. – Marshall. _I think I'm delirious from the flu still, Lucas how…we're 19…I.." Brooke said, and then dropped the letter. She was still completely confused by all of this.

"Brooke, I love you… I'll love you the same whether we're 19 or 30, so what's the difference if we start now?"

"I think this is the cheesiest thing we've ever done"

"Of course it is… but that's how it's supposed to be" Lucas smiled and then kissed her. He knew how much she hated cheesy… but she wasn't getting out of a cheesy marriage proposal… no matter how hard she tried.

"I get to call you fiancé instead of boyfriend now"

"I knew that was coming"

"But how do we get Ella? Lucas… as far as I know… which isn't a lot, but 19 year olds can't adopt kids" Brooke said wiping the stray tears from her cheeks.

"They can when they have an adoption judge and a social worker on their side…Patty left Marshall, and he doesn't want her to go back to the children's home"

"Are we going to be able to handle this?"

"We definitely wont get bored… I lost her at the mall twice today" Lucas laughed, then realized he didn't know where she had gone now either.

"Lucas!"

"Hey… I found her again…and its not like we have too many other responsibilities…"

"This is the craziest thing we've ever done" Brooke smiled. She wasn't sure that they were thinking doing this… but if Lucas, Mr. Sensibly never do anything crazy agreed to it, it couldn't be but such a bad idea.

"You wanna do it right?"

"Of course… when can we like, officially have her?"

"That might be Marshall calling you right now" Lucas said feeling Brooke's phone vibrate as she sat in his lap.

"Nope… just the crackwhore doctor telling me I'm free to go to Paris… oh damn… cant go now, hold on… Hello?"

"Miss Davis?"

"This is she…" Brooke said, much cheerier than she had been earlier.

"We're calling about your blood test"


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22! Enjoy! haha

"_I would be **forever** your own high school **sweetheart, **And in our **memories** we'll **live** like kinds and queens"_

-Drew Alexander

"Its ok… thanks but I don't need it, I'm not going to Paris so none of that really matters anymore" Brooke said getting ready to hang up the phone. This was definitely one of the happiest days of her life and she really wasn't about to share a second of it with the crackwhoreish doctor.

"No… Miss Davis, you're pregnant"

"No I'm not"

"The tests confirm it, we've scheduled you an appointment with Dr. Owens tomorrow at 3:00" The woman on the other end of the line said. At this point Brooke had chosen denial… in fact she'd been in a deep denial about this for weeks now… ever since her "flu" and her last missed period she'd pushed it all to the back of her mind and decided it was all just a coincident.

"The tests are wrong"

"I'm just the messenger Miss Davis… have a good night"

"Who was that?" Lucas asked kinda worried, he didn't like the look on Brooke's face that whole phone call, but she seemed better now.

"Uh… um, doctors office, they just got my tests mixed up with someone else's… I just have to go in tomorrow and make sure they get it straight… come on, we should be celebrating… not sitting here like Mouth on a Friday night, lets go eat"

"Ella… come on, lets go eat"

"Gucci come?" Ella asked trying to pick up the puppy, which was now almost as big as she was.

"Sorry Girlie, Gucci has to stay here and guard the house ok? We have to have a party!"

"Why?"

"Lucas… we haven't even asked her if she wants to stay with us, she could say no" Brooke said, feeling kinda bad that Ella had no say whatsoever in all of this.

"We covered that on the way here… Tell her about Sherlock and your room Ella"

"He my dowggie!"

"He is?" Brooke asked, surprised Lucas had asked, but then again that was Lucas.

"Yeaya an I gets pwink bedroom!"

"Wow! We'll have to go shopping and spend all…"

"What?" Lucas asked as Brooke paused mid sentence.

"What does she call us?"

"Um…"

"Because I don't think Brooke and Lucas are going to cut it… Is it bad that this is weird? It seems weird" Brooke said trying to imagine Ella calling them "Mommy" and "Daddy" it made them sound so old.

"Its not weird… just different"

"Its weird… how do we explain this to a 2 year old?"

"She's 2… if we start it now then 6 months from now she wont remember what she used to call us" Lucas said, hoping he was right… he really had no idea what he was talking about when it came to this stuff.

"Hey El… come here girlie, lets chat for a sec"

"Nowa dinner?" Ella asked holding her arms up for Brooke to hold her.

"We will… ugh I feel like a lifetime movie doing this, Ella do you know what a Mommy and Daddy are?"

"Yeaya"

"Ok well that's a start" Lucas said glad that they at least didn't have to explain that.

"I don hwave any"

"Well Lucas and I don't have any babies" Brooke smiled, her stomach twisted as she said it… the word baby made her shudder, but she couldn't think about that right now. She and Lucas had had lots of pregnancy scares… who was to say this wasn't just another one?

"Nowa babies?" Ella asked patting Brooke's face like to comfort her. Brooke was trying hard not to laugh at the little girl.

"Nope… so what if you be our baby and we'll be your mommy and daddy?"

"Okay" Ella smiled… pretty much like it was no big deal. Then again she was barely 2… so it wasn't like she comprehended much of this in the first place.

"Look at you"

"What?"

"I've never seen you like that before" Lucas smiled wrapping his arms around Brooke's waist.

"What?"

"All… hallmarkish"

"Shut up…" Brooke giggled leaning into his chest. Maybe this wasn't going to be as hard as they thought.

"Its cute…"

They spent the rest of the night just having fun… Brooke guessed taking Ella down to the pool at 11pm probably wasn't the best thing to do on their first night as "parents" but they had fun anyway. She wanted to do anything and everything to keep her mind off tomorrow… every time she thought about it her stomach turned, denial wasn't exactly working anymore. It wasn't so much the thought of being pregnant… it was what being pregnant would do, there was no way Marshall would let them keep Ella if Brooke were already pregnant… not to mention she didn't want a baby, after spending a few weeks with Lyric her "Lucas… I want a baby" was completely cured… At least Ella was 2… she was pretty much potty trained, could ask for what she wanted, and slept through the night. Not to mention Brooke didn't have to actually "have" her… so she was the best of both worlds.

The next morning after calling Haley, Peyton, Rachel and everyone else she knew to tell them about her ring… and remind them not to tell Karen, Brooke decided it was time that she and Ella went shopping for her bedroom. Since Lucas had to be at work all day (Just like every other Wednesday) Brooke was free to go to do as she pleased with Ella. But it also meant taking her to the doctor with her first… Brooke just hoped Ella wasn't old enough to comprehend what she was hearing.

"This may be a little cold…" The doctor said squirting the jelly on Brooke's stomach. Brooke was choosing to ignore her… until she saw proof that there was something inside her… she believed nothing.

"What dat?"

"You sound like skillz…that's like Jelly, and shit that's cold…"

"Ok… look a there, a heart beat" The doctor smiled pointing to the screen. Brooke wanted to go throw up…

"No…"

"Yea… see?"

"No…" Brooke sighed choosing not to look, if she didn't look that meant she didn't have to believe it.

"Brooke… you are pregnant"

"No…"

"I'd say about 11 or 12 weeks… Brooke you should have been in here sooner" Dr. Owens scolded… like Brooke actually knew before this, well she may have had a hint or two but this definitely wasn't her fault.

"I didn't know"

"You can stay in denial right up until you give birth if you would like, but you have more options if you except it"

"That's ok… I like my denial… and I think I want a 2nd opinion" Brooke said wiping the gross jelly off her stomach. Of course she wasn't going to get a 2nd opinion but she did hope it would at least piss the doctor off.

"Dos me" Ella giggled lifting up her shirt.

"Sweetie… you definitely aren't having a baby…"

"I ywour baby"

"You're my only baby… come here" Brooke smiled pulling Ella into her arms, now they could just go shopping so she could get her mind off of all of this.

"Looks like you're going to have 2 from now on…Brooke… at least take this" Dr. Owens said frustrated, handing Brooke a printed picture of what Brooke decided was absolutely nothing.

"For what?"

"For when you're out of denial and you wish you had it"

Brooke made it all the way out of the office and into the car with Ella before the tears started flowing. They were hot as they ran down her face and smeared her make up. What had she done to deserve this? It couldn't have been karma… she hadn't done anything really bad or mean lately… then again people did consider babies as blessings, so maybe the gods were trying to reward her for being good? Whatever this was it was some sick and twisted reward. It wasn't only that she was pregnant… now she felt like a total hypocrite. She'd spent so much time hating Ella's real parents and trying to figure out how they could even think about not wanting her… but now some of the thoughts that were going through her head… she just couldn't deal with all of this. She needed to call Peyton.

After stopping at McDonalds to get Ella a Happy Meal and some ice cream, Brooke hit speed dial on her phone to call Peyton. It rang and rang and rang until an exhausted Peyton finally answered.

"Hello" Peyton yawned as Brooke tried to stop herself from crying as she started to talk.

"Hi…"

"Brooke… what's wrong"

"I need to talk…" Brooke managed to choke out without sounding too cryish.

"What… did you and Lucas get into it already?"

"No… but you have to swear none of this gets to him"

"Of course…" Peyton said turning on a more serious tone for her friend.

"Peyton I'm pregnant"

"I figured…"

"What?" Brooke gasped almost choking on the drink she was sipping.

"You've been a basket case lately"

"I don't know what to do"

"You need to tell Lucas" Peyton laughed stating the obvious. Brooke already knew this…but for now she was choosing not too, at least until she had figured everything out.

"Just like you've told everyone who Lyric's father is"

"This isn't about me B. Davis"

"Sorry…" Brooke sighed feeling her eyes swell up with tears again.

"What's the big deal… so you're pregnant… it wasn't like you and Lucas weren't starting with the kid thing already anyway with Ella"

"Yea but that's different… I want Ella, Ella's 2… and I don't have to do anything except love her… and I definitely don't have to get fat, I know I sound like the worst person ever right now"

"You don't… look Brooke, you know how I was with Lyric… I'm probably the only mother ever who threatened to beat her out of me if she didn't stop kicking… She wasn't my baby until I held her that first time" Peyton laughed. Brooke laughed too but it really wasn't making her feel any better.

"But I don't want a baby"

"You need to talk to your fiancé"

"He's going to flip out Peyton… and if Marshall finds out, we're screwed with Ella… there's no way they're going to let us have her if I'm pregnant… at 19, I mean seriously… how responsible does that look?" Brooke asked. Peyton knew she had a point… if anyone found out before Ella was officially theirs they were most definitely screwed.

"So how are you going to explain your fatness to Lucas? Or…. Bringing a baby home"

"I haven't gotten that far… thanks"

"Don't tell Marshall or Karen or anyone… but tell Lucas ok?" Peyton asked, making sure to emphasize the world ok.

"Peyton…"

"I'll make you a deal… if you have the baby, and you still don't want it after that first time you hold it… I'll take it"

"That confident huh?" Brooke asked almost laughing.

"You have no idea… I've gotta go feed Lyric, call me and let me know how it goes"

"Thanks P. Sawyer…"

Back at the apartment Lucas on the couch watching some basketball game while, of course the only person who could have made this day any worse… Karen was in the kitchen cooking dinner, leaving Erin to scream her little head off. Brooke was seriously contemplating just walking back out to the car and driving around for a little while, but Ella was asleep in her arms and after giving that poor little girl a rough day of shopping and doctors she figured she might as well lay her on the couch with Lucas to sleep.

"Hey… How was your day?" Lucas asked putting Erin back in her carrier so he could take Ella from Brooke.

"Eventful… What's your mother doing here?"

"You're asking the wrong person… I came home and she was here… cooking."

"Wonderful…" Brooke sighed laying down next to Ella and Lucas. Karen was really the last person she wanted to deal with today.

"You ok?"

"Yea… sorry…. Its harder keeping up with a 2 year old than I thought, she had to touch everything"

"Looks like you wore her out too" Lucas laughed rubbing the little girls back.

"Brooke…"

"Karen"

"Pot Roast is almost ready" Karen said picking Erin up out of her carrier. She seemed ill that Lucas had chosen Ella over Erin but Brooke really wasn't in the mood to analyze Karen's motives tonight… not to mention the thought of pot roast made her want to gag.

"Did you talk to Marshall today?"

"Yea…we just have to sign sometime this week"

"Then how long will it take after that?" Brooke asked hoping he would come up with a short amount of time… if she was really 12 weeks pregnant, and she worked anything like Peyton… she'd have a baby bump in a few more weeks. The thought of that alone made her nauseous.

"A few weeks to make sure it's finalized"

"Sign what?"

"Umm… a new lease on the apartment?" Brooke said almost in question form… she had to admit it was kinda fun messing with Karen's head

"Oh…well you should get her up for dinner if she's staying to eat""

"Hey Ella… wake up, we've gotta go eat"

"Nowa" Ella whined burring her head back into Lucas's chest

"Yea… its gonna be good"

"We rwead after?"

"Sure… what do you want me to read to you?" Lucas asked carrying her to the kitchen behind Brooke.

"Gucci bwook" Ella smiled… referring to Sherlock Holmes.

"Brooke, have you gained weight?"

"Mom…"

"Uh… no"

"You look good… rather, glowing" Karen smiled, obviously fakely. This wasn't good…Brooke was guessing she could tell, how Brooke had no idea… it was probably that freaky mother in law thing she had going on… either way she'd just deny whatever Karen implied up and down

"I had the flu last week"

"Right…"

"So… how's Keith?" Lucas asked trying to change the subject before it got ugly.

"Better… he'll be home in a week, you guys should come down… enjoy the beach"

"Yea"

"Ella what did you do today?" Karen asked, seeing Ella start to fall asleep again against Lucas's lap.

"Mommy gon have 2 bwabies" Ella yawned, as if what she said was absolutely no big deal. Brooke, Lucas and Karen all 3 almost choked on what they were eating at the time. Brooke couldn't believe after everything she'd taken Ella to do today… that was the one thing she remembered. But on the other hand it did kinda thrill her that Ella had remembered not to call her Brooke this time.

"She's 2… she's crazy"

"Mommy?"

"Can we talk for a second?" Lucas asked giving her his fake 'this is going to be a long conversation' smile.

"I'm actually kinda hungry now"

"In the den…"

"Its not something that can wait until later?" Brooke asked… almost begging. She really didn't want to get into this tonight, especially with Karen here to listen in on the whole thing.

"Mommy?… I think I deserve an explanation for all of this"

"Later… or now" Lucas said giving Brooke another, bigger fake smile… taking her gently bye the hand and leading her into the den, away from his mother.

He stood there for a few seconds waiting for her to say something… then after he was pretty sure she was just going to stand there and stare back… he started trying to think of what he should say. For someone who was so against lying… Brooke had definitely lied about a big one this time.

"You need to sit" Brooke finally said, once she was sure she wasn't going to cry… at least not yet

"That's what they called about last night…"

"Lucas… don't be mad, I had to make sure"

"So you mean you were going to tell me… I don't know, when you got home? Wait… you didn't do that either" Lucas said sarcastically. Brooke didn't blame him… but that didn't make her any less upset.

"Or tomorrow… or next week… Lucas I don't know!"

"How long have you known?"

"Just since last night… and I wanted to make sure before I said anything" Brooke said as calmly as possible. Lucas was taking this worse than her if that was possible, and she hadn't thought it was.

"Ok… see the point of us being a couple, being engaged is to tell each other these things, how are we ever going to make it if you cant tell me something like that?"

"I was going to tell you ok? I just needed time to process it, Lucas please don't get mad over this"

"I'm not mad… I just wish I hadn't heard it from a 2 year old" Lucas sighed giving up on fighting with her, now he was an ass for yelling at his pregnant fiancé. He could see her trying to hold back her tears… but she wasn't doing a very good job of it. After a few more seconds of trying to comprehend what he had just found out, Lucas decided to ignore it all and just take care of her. He hugged her tight into his chest and kissed her forehead.

"I'm so scared…"

"Of what?"

"Everything… Its all just happening so fast, Lucas I don't want a baby… and what if Marshall finds out? Do you really think he's going to think we're that great then?" Brooke sobbed, Lucas could barely understand what she was saying.

"So we don't tell him until after… but Brooke you have to let me in on this stuff ok? Promise me"

"I promise"

"Ok now I think I'm going to go lie down… why don't you bring Ella and we'll start teaching her how not to talk…" Lucas sighed scratching his head. The whole not thinking about it thing was starting to wear off… and the fact that she was pregnant was starting to make him feel sick…

"What about your mother?"

"Plead the 5th on everything… we'll deal with her later"


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23! Enjoy!

Brooke laid in bed listen as Karen tried to get her baby to sleep. Lucas and Ella were sleeping through the whole thing, but not Brooke. Erin was screaming at the top of her lungs, while whatever Karen was doing was clearly not working. She seemed to take so much pride in the fact that she was a mother again… telling Brooke what a wonderful feeling it was to take care of someone else… Brooke really didn't get it… I mean she loved Ella with all her heart… but Ella was potty trained, slept through the night, and most importantly… loved her back. Brooke wasn't ready for the responsibility of having to deal with some helpless baby. She'd tried to explain it to Lucas, but he really didn't get it. He just kept swearing to her it would all get better, just to give it time. He didn't understand all time was going to do was make her fat and even less prepared for whatever was going to happen.

All of this thinking was starting to give her a headache… and make her kind of hungry too. She really wanted something sweet… and fruity… great now she was craving healthy foods. This was seriously screwed up.

"What's wrong?" Lucas yawned wrapping his arms around Brooke's waist. Brooke could tell he was clearly only ½ awake.

"Just thinking"

"Now whose the brooder"

"I'm not brooding" Brooke sighed not in the mood to get into this again…

"Yea you are"

"Your sister wont shut up"

"So I noticed" Lucas yawned again checking to see if Ella was still asleep with all the noise Erin was making.

"When's your mother leaving?"

"Probably when we explain everything to her"

"Can't we just like… kick her out? Its our place" Brooke whined. She was so ready to get rid of Karen… that would at least make her feel a little better… and maybe get her and Lucas out of a few lectures.

"Good luck with that one"

"She's going to be so pissed"

"So?" Lucas asked. He didn't care… and didn't know why Brooke did. It wasn't like there was anything they could do to take it back.

"I'm hungry… do we have any apples?"

"You banned healthy food remember?"

"Apple flavored anything?" Brooke asked trying to figure out what she had had against apples last week…

"Juice?"

"No… this sucks… I'll just end up throwing it up anyway"

"It's not going to be THAT bad Brooke" Lucas whispered hugging her. Brooke just rolled her eyes. Of course it was going to be THAT bad… it already was.

"Yes it is Lucas… ok? It is"

"Remember when we had to volunteer our first day…"

"Yea" Brooke sighed getting annoyed with Lucas. He was going to give her some speech about how everything had turned out ok… and she really didn't want to hear it.

"And you knew it was going to be one of the most terrible things you'd ever done"

"Yea"

"Look what happened…" Lucas whispered pointing to Ella. She had to give it to him on this one. He was right… if they hadn't gotten caught pretty much naked in a water fountain they wouldn't have had anything to do with Ella…

"This is different"

"I love you Brooke, but I'm not going to fight with you about this"

"Fight with me?" Brooke ½ laughed. Of course he was going too… she was actually in the mood for a fight… yelling made her a little less stressed out, especially knowing that it would make Lucas as pissed as she was.

"I don't know what you want me to do? Its not like I can magically make this go away Brooke… It doesn't work like that!"

"Really? Because I had no idea"

"I don't know what you want me to say" Lucas finally said shaking his head at her. He really didn't… he couldn't yell at her because he knew what she was probably feeling like, he couldn't be nice to her because it just made her madder… it was impossible to do anything with her.

"Something other than 'Oh Brooke… its going to get better, its going to be great' blah blah blah! Lucas… its really not"

"Its not like you didn't know this could happen… we both did"

"Yes but there is a reason for birth control Lucas! If I'd wanted a baby I'd have thrown away my patch and the condoms and jumped you" Brooke whisper yelled, making sure not to wake up Ella. She didn't need to be hearing any of this…

"I'm not doing this with you tonight"

"You wont ever do this… you know why? Because you're happy…"

"I'm not happy if you're going to be like this" Lucas said practically giving up on her…

"But you are happy!"

"What other choice do we have Brooke? This is going to happen whether you want it to or not… so you can either ignore it and stay miserable the entire time… or just deal with it and enjoy what we can of it… what's so different between a baby and Ella?"

"What's so different? We want her! She needs us… you know what? I'm going to go buy some apples…" Brooke said giving Lucas her death glare. She needed to get out of that house with the screaming baby at least.

"Brooke…"

"No…" Brooke snapped throwing on her sweatshirt. She really wasn't trying to be unreasonable. Of course she knew there was nothing they could do about any of this… but that didn't mean she didn't get to be sad or upset… or mad. Furious was more like it… and she wasn't even sure at who… It wasn't so much Lucas's fault… and if she blamed him she had to blame herself too… and she guessed it wasn't really the babies fault… after all it hadn't exactly asked for this. Maybe the people at the birth control or condom companies? After all they were supposed to be preventing this… maybe she'd call and give them a piece of her mind.

By the time she'd made it to her car that idea didn't seem as smart… and she really didn't want an apple so much anymore. But she couldn't go back inside… not after the way she had just yelled at Lucas… for no reason really. He was just trying to make things better and she was ripping his throat out. Brooke laid back in her seat and turned the inside lights on… she looked at her perfectly manicured fingers, then at the rings on her finger. She had been so tired she'd completely forgotten to take them off. Lucas had done a really good job with the engagement ring, she thought of how many girls would have killed for that ring… and Lucas. For everything she had… and here she was just trying to make it all go away, and put things back to the way they were. That's when the guilt hit her… she was acting like her mother.

She remembered the stories her grandparents had told her when she was younger… about how her mother had cried for months after she found out she was pregnant. How she had gone into a deep depression and almost lost everything. Of course they had always told it to Brooke like it was some kind of joke… but it was never funny. It always burned when she thought about it, and it was even worse now that she was doing the same thing. She looked down at her stomach to see if she could tell any difference… of course there was nothing… she still had her abs, those wouldn't be there much longer she guessed. Her clothes wouldn't fit, no more alcohol. She still was anything but happy about this… but she also sure as hell wasn't going to have Karen telling her kid one day how she didn't want it… so if anything… she'd at least have to pretend to be happy.

The next thing Brooke knew she was rolling over and almost smushed Ella. She was in her bedroom, in her bed… and the sun was up. Lucas was at the desk… writing as usual, and Ella was hogging his side of the bed. Brooke wasn't sure if she'd dreamed last night… or if she'd been to tired to remember walking back upstairs from her car. Either way it kind of freaked her out.

"How'd…" She started but the nausea hit her before she could finish.

"I carried you up about 1AM…"

"I feel like crap"

"Morning sickness?" Lucas asked seeing how pale Brooke looked. He hated seeing her like that. She was clearly miserable.

"That too… I'm sorry about last night, I was mad and you were there beside me"

"Peyton called to check on you… make sure you hadn't done anything drastic… you aren't going to do anything drastic are you?"

"You know me better than that" Brooke sighed knowing he did. She wasn't that crazy… although with the mood swings she'd been having lately she was starting to wonder what she would and wouldn't do…

"You ok now?"

"Not really… but I don't really have a choice do I?"

"We can make this good…" Lucas whispered kissing her forehead. She decided to just try and believe him this morning. They'd fought enough the past few days to last a year… so she figured she'd give him a break and just change t he subject.

"Where's you're mom?"

"She took Erin outside to get some air, I told her I'd talk to her later"

"I told Ella we'd take her shopping for her room today" Brooke smiled. She was excited about that. Shopping always made her feel better, plus shopping for Ella's room was going to be even more fun! Everything could be pinks and purples and yellows.

"We've got to meet with Marshall at 2 anyway… you up for it?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Not really…" Lucas laughed helping her our of bed.

"Then bring it on…we're just going to have to do some serious lying to Ella"

"Right…Maybe she wont even remember?"

While Brooke was in the shower Lucas attempted to get Ella dressed and ready… and convince her there was no baby. Turns out she was a lot harder to convince than he had thought she would be. Apparently the thought of a brother or a sister thrilled her and she wanted nothing to do with what Lucas was telling her.

"Bwut there two babies" Ella whispered patting Lucas's cheek like she was teaching him something. It had been the same game for 30 minutes now…

"Just you"

"Why?"

"Because… we love you most" Lucas said for what seemed like the millionth time.

"How's it going…"

"Not well"

"Mommy…" Ella giggled at Brooke with her wet hair, standing there in her robe.

"Hey baby… we're going to go visit Marshall today!"

"Nowa"

"She is not a morning person"

"Mommy and I will take you shopping" Lucas said, almost begging. It was so important that today went well… if they could just make it through lunch then they'd be in the clear, at least for a little while.

"Fwor pink?"

"Anything pink you want"

"Right… because you're our only baby…" Brooke added trying to make that as clear as possible.

"Lucas… oh sorry"

"I'm going to get ready anyway"

"She looks pale" Karen whispered once Brooke had left the room. She remembered her days of morning sickness and sleepless nights and really felt bad for Brooke.

"She didn't get much sleep last night"

"Don't worry… I'm leaving today… I just wanted to talk some before I left, Ella why don't you go play for a minute"

"Nowa" Ella whined getting comfortable in Lucas's lap. Lucas was starting to think that Ella really didn't like Karen, not that he blamed her, Karen hadn't exactly been very welcoming to the 2 year old.

"Lucas I can understand you 2 wanting to keep Ella… I mean you've practically raised her, and she's made the 2 of you mature more than I ever thought I'd see you do in such a short amount of time… and truthfully… if it were just her I would probably support this… you two are clearly good with her, at least as good as anyone else would be"

"But…"

"But Lucas, a baby is going to change everything, is it really fair to keep her if you're going to be pre-occupied with a newborn? Adopted children take much more attention than if you and Brooke had had Ella… there's going to be time issues, money… not to mention jealousy… is it really fair to do that to her or a baby? I know you think its fine now, but there's something about having a baby, that's yours… that you made, it's just a different kind of love, and you'll realize that when you and Brooke have this baby" Karen smiled, trying to make it as clear but nice as possible.

"I can't believe you just said that to me…"

"Lucas…"

"Is that how it would have been if Keith had adopted me? He would have treated me like his son until you 2 had one of your own?" Lucas asked. Living in New York had made him forget what a hypocrite his mother could be… and how much she could seriously piss him off sometimes.

"Lucas… it's different with Keith"

"How?"

"I… It just is" Karen stuttered not able to think of a reason at that particular second… but she was sure that there was one.

"You spent my whole life telling me it wasn't blood that mattered… it was what was in you're heart"

"It is… but Lucas you and Brooke are young… to young to be having any children much less taking on the responsibility of one that you don't have too"

"You know… Brooke and I started this because we thought Ella needed us… she didn't have anyone, we were bored and had free time… it wasn't until we almost lost her that we realized we probably needed her more than she needed us… I get to do stuff with her everyday that I wished Dan had done with me, little things that I never planned on doing just because I didn't think I would have anyone I cared about enough to do them with… and Brooke… She's so happy when she's with this little girl, she gets to do stuff for her that she never had… Ella keeps us selfless and on our toes and we learn something new from her everyday" Lucas said… then there was a long pause. Karen was clearly thinking this through… trying to come up with anything to fight it.

"And it'll be the same way when Brooke has this baby"

"It wont… see, of course we'll love this baby… it'll probably be our world for the next 50 years, we'll love it no matter what, ect; but Ella… we got her because we wanted her, we had to fight for her, work harder than we've ever worked for anything… and because of that it'll make up for what's missing in blood and whatever… you should know that as well as anyone"

"Lucas…" Karen sighed shaking her head at her son.

"Do you love me less than Erin because you had me with Dan and not Keith?"

"Of course not Lucas"

"Then what's the difference?" Lucas asked knowing Karen wouldn't have an answer, there wasn't one.

"Things you cant begin to imagine…"

"Don't bring this up to Brooke, she's already so insecure about this baby as it is"

"You and Brooke are in for a long road ahead Lucas, just remember I'm here"

Lucas and Brooke finally got Karen out of the house… and were almost ready to start their day of shopping, and meetings, they would have been out earlier except it was finally starting to make since to Brooke why here pants were all a little tight. Especially her super tight favorite pair of jeans. That right there was enough to throw her over the edge as it was.

"Lucas…" Brooke whined struggling to get the button of her jeans in the hole. She was supposed to at least have another good month before having to wear all the ugly clothes that came with being pregnant.

"What… Babe we're gonna be late"

"How can I be gaining weight and still have ab lines?"

"Maybe you aren't gaining fat?" Lucas asked, he really had no idea what he was talking about but with Brooke any answer was better than none.

"Damn it… they wont buckle"

"You're going to squash the baby"

"Its not big enough to squash… believe me, which is why my pants should all still fit" Brooke said holding her breath… she was trying to suck in as much as possible hoping that that might help.

"Just wear a different pair"

"I don't want a different pair… I want these… there buckled"

"Brooke… change jeans" Lucas laughed waiting for the button on the poor jeans to snap.

"Why… they're buckled…"

"Because I think its going to cut off your circulation…"

"They fit…fine…I'm on a diet from now on" Brooke sighed undoing the way too tight jeans. Why did life have to suck so much?

"Really? Ella wanted ice cream"

"That's not fair!"

"You want ice cream…" Lucas laughed watching Brooke's expression become even more pitiful.

"No… _your_ kid wants ice cream… I want my jeans to fit"

"I have a feeling I know whose going to win this one"

"Stupid little… I mean darling baby, you better be a girl in there because I cant tolerate another Scott boy" Brooke sighed patting her stomach… while rolling her eyes as someone knocked at the door.

"Change jeans… I'll get the door"

"I comes too" Ella shrieked trailing behind Lucas as fast as her little legs could carry her.

"Yea… just leave me here to sulk over my poor pants… these are $300 jeans!"

"We could pay ½ the rent with that!"

"Don't start with me or I might have to find a pair of $600 jeans!" Brooke muttered loud enough so Lucas could hear her.

"Or you could design your own…"

"I opens it" Ella said trying to reach the doorknob. She was about 3 inches too short when she held her arms up to try and grab it. It didn't help that she was already so much smaller than most kids her age.

"You can open it"

"I dids it daddy!"

"I know… good job" Lucas laughed, finding it funny that something as simple as opening a door made Ella so excited.

"Who dats?"

"Nate"


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24! 3 more chapters to go!

"You guys have an extra room right?" Nathan asked throwing his duffle bag at Lucas's feet, almost knocking poor little Ella over. Lucas had known it was only a matter of time before this happened. Sure, Haley had let him come back home, but she wasn't the most forgiving person in the world. Lucas was just shocked he'd gotten to stay at home this long.

"Nate what happened?"

"Peyton happened"

"Right" Lucas sighed. He knew exactly what this meant. The paternity tests had come back and he was guessing that the baby wasn't Jakes like Peyton had hoped.

"Haley's furious"

"Lyric's yours?"

"I don't know what's worse? Having a kid for the past few months I didn't know was mine, or having a kid named Lyric!" Nathan ranted plopping down on the couch.

"Have you talked to Peyton?"

"Not yet, she wont answer her phone"

"Ready… woah, Nate you look like shit" Brooke laughed. She wasn't really that surprised to see Nathan on their couch. Peyton had called her the other day and told her the tests would be in anytime. Brooke guessed this meant Lyric was Nathan's and Haley had spazzed.

"Mommy" Ella giggled as Brooke said shit.

"I meant crap"

"After Haley threw her ring, shoe and a toaster at me I figured I should leave"

"How'd she find out?" Brooke asked hoping Peyton hadn't told her. That was the last thing they all needed. More girl on girl fights. Especially between Haley and Peyton.

"They called, she told them she was my wife, they told her"

"Ugh that sucks"

"Now your little friend, wont answer her phone" Nathan smiled sarcastically. Sometimes Brooke wondered how he and Lucas were even related. Nathan could be such your typical guyish ass when he wanted to be, while she wasn't sure she'd ever seen Lucas hit that point.

"My little friend?"

"So its not Jake"

"Why you thought it was Jakes?" Nathan asked. He seemed to have what sounded like hope in his voice. Lucas felt kinda sorry for him. It had to be a sucky feeling to find out you had a kid with someone you didn't love.

"Lyric has Jakeish qualities"

"Apparently not"

"As much as I love listening to all of this drama, Lucas we have to go" Brooke hadn't realized how late they were running until she heard Dora the Explorer's theme song playing on the TV.

"Right. Nate you can stay here as long as you need"

"Thanks man"

"Call Peyton, she'll answer because she'll think its me"

After reluctantly leaving Nathan alone in their apartment, Brooke and Lucas headed downstairs to the car with Ella. Lucas didn't really like leaving Nathan like that. He'd been known to do some pretty messed up things when he was fighting with Haley. They'd be lucky if there was still an apartment left when they got back. But right now he couldn't worry about that. He and Brooke had bigger things to deal with.

"Daddy I big" Ella giggled as Lucas _tried_ to get the car seat buckle over her head. He wasn't sure if there was anything harder then trying to get a squirming 2 year old into a carseat.

"You'll be as big as mommy soon and you can steal all the clothes that won't fit her anymore" Lucas whispered loud enough for Brooke to hear him.

"Hey! I heard that, you just wait until you start gaining the sympathy pounds Broody, just wait"

"Or until you start sneaking the extra calories in my food"

"Or have I started that already" Brooke giggled climbing into the backseat to sit with Ella. She wasn't sure how she was going to get Lucas back for knocking her up yet, but she'd have to come up with something before it was all over with.

"Bad baby"

"What are you teaching her?"

"The truth" Brooke sighed as Ella patted her stomach. One thing she was sure of was that this whole stomach fascination Ella and Lucas had suddenly developed was going to have to go.

"You're terrible"

"It look likes Gucci?"

"Will it look like Gucci? I really hope not" Lucas laughed. The things that came out of that 2 year olds mouth killed him sometimes. Like the time she asked him if she could eat through her belly button.

"Ella's going to help me with the baby"

"Really, what are you going to do?"

"Feeds it, an pwlays with it" Ella said sounding very sure of herself and what she was going to do. Brooke wished she could be that confident. She didn't even know what she was going to do with it yet.

"See, at this rate I wont have to do anything"

"Whose going to change diapers?"

"You awre" Ella giggled

"I see how this is going to work"

"I gos buys it stuff"

"She's got it all planned out" Lucas laughed amazed at how much she had thought about this. He hadn't even put that much thought into it yet.

"At least she's not jealous"

"Yea, I don't think she's grasping what a baby is, so much as a baby doll or a dog. Something we play with until we get bored then kinda leave it alone"

"Wait, isn't that what we do anyway?" Brooke asked, trying to sound completely serious.

"You're funny you know that"

"I gives it cookies Gucci's cookies"

"God, I caught her trying to eat a dog biscuit for breakfast this morning" Brooke giggled

"Last night she traded Gucci her ice cream for his cookie"

"Maybe she thinks she's a puppy"

"I teach it to go pottys" Ella added, obviously completely ignoring Brooke and Lucas's separate conversation.

"And not fall in like you do?"

"See Brooke, Ella's gonna raise this baby for us. It'll be easy"

"If only, ok lets pretend now that mommy isn't having a baby ok? At least for Marshall" Brooke sighed as they pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant. Maybe Ella would suddenly develop a shy bone and not talk at all.

"It's a prize?"

"Sure"

Luckily they were only a few minutes late to meet Marshall. When they met him at the table, he'd already found what looked like a couple about his age to talk too. They looked like they had about as much money has Marshall did too. The woman was carrying a huge Chanel purse and whoever the guy was definitely had those same rich qualities Brooke's dad had. Old rich people were funny to Brooke, it seemed like the more money they had, the worse they seemed to dress.

"Sorry we're late"

"No problem, getting a 2 year old out of the house isn't always easy" Marshall smiled as Brooke and Lucas took their seats.

"Brooke, Lucas this is Carina and Richard"

"Hi"

"A dowgie!" Ella shrieked as some woman walked her dog across the sidewalk. So much for that shy bone theory.

"I see, it kinda looks like Gucci"

"Gucci come toos?"

"Nope, Gucci had to stay one and keep uncle Nathan company" Brooke laughed trying to get Ella to sit still in her lap so they could get down to business and go home. She really wanted to make sure Gucci was ok there with angry Nathan.

"Is it really necessary that she sit at the table?"

"Carina…"

"Poor Gucci" Ella whispered patting Brooke's stomach. Brooke didn't even want to ask on this one.

"Poor Gucci's right"

"Back to business. Richard's a lawyer, and Carina's, well she's his wife"

"Ok?" Brooke asked, not really sure what their deal was, then she didn't really care either.

"A few years ago, Carina got pregnant, and at the time they felt they couldn't keep the baby"

"I was in denial. I mean there I was 43 and having a kid. I tried it for a few days, but being a mother just wasn't for me at the time"

"She wasn't very good at it, we didn't have a choice" Richard said patting his wives shoulder. Brooke didn't exactly feel sorry for them, and was completely confused. Maybe they were senile and at the wrong table or something.

"Am I the only one who's completely confused here?"

"These are Ella's birth parents"

"Wait what?" Brooke and Lucas both said in shocked unison. Neither of them had been expecting this.

"You have to understand how scared we were"

"Didn't we name her Harris or something?"

"Horace" Brooke muttered under her breath. She didn't like where this was going. It sounded like they wanted to get to know Ella or something. Like they had a right to get to know her. She was definitely sure they were senile now.

"They were contacted a few weeks ago by the adoption agency when we filed the papers"

"We regretted what we did for so long, and when we heard she was still there and we had a change of getting her back"

"Getting her back?" Lucas asked. He felt his heart plummet into his stomach as the words came out of their mouth. Of course. This had all been too perfect. They were Brooke and Lucas, nothing could be easy on them or work out how they needed it too. Ever. That's just how their lives worked.

"Yes, that's why we're here"

"That's not how it works, you gave her up"

"We were so scared" Carina whispered. Brooke wanted more than anything to slap her, and she would have if she hadn't had Ella sitting in her lap completely clueless to what was going on. What was wrong with these people? Who did they think they were? Ella wasn't theirs anymore. She was Brooke and Lucas's. They'd done everything Marshall had told them too, everything. Of course getting pregnant wasn't exactly on the list but no one knew about that yet.

"Right, because you couldn't have sold that Chanel bag for a nanny. You weren't scared you were selfish"

"Brooke"

"No, she's not theirs anymore" Brooke said turning to Lucas. She could see how worried he looked. She hated that look.

"We had her, she's our child"

"How can they just come back now? Isn't there some rule about that?"

"In the most cases possible social services like to put children back with their birth parents, unless they are unfit parents" Marshall whispered. Lucas could tell he must have felt pretty bad about the whole situation, but he really didn't care. Not now.

"So, if you leave your baby at some orphanage, that doesn't make you unfit?"

"That's just how it works Brooke. If the parents have time to fix whatever was wrong, clean up their act, they can have their child back"

"And there's nothing we can do" Lucas asked. He was a lot calmer than Brooke, but she could hear the raspiness in his voice.

"You're 19"

"We were 19 yesterday too"

"Yesterday her parents didn't want her back" Marshall said, just as calm as Lucas. Brooke couldn't believe this. After everything they'd been through. Marshall had all but promised them that Ella was theirs.

"Why now?"

"We miss our child"

"You haven't missed her for the passed 2 years, why now?" Lucas asked again. His tone had changed from calm to pissed off. Brooke didn't know which was worse. She'd only ever heard Lucas that mad at one other person, and that was Dan.

"We have some family events coming up we'd like to have her in"

"Family events? You haven't had family events the past 2 years?"

"I start campaigning next week" Richard finally said after getting the ok from his wife. Campaigning. It was making a lot more sense to Lucas now. They were just politicians who needed to look good for the voters. They were Dan.

"Ritchie's running for mayor"

"Mayor"

"She's a pretty child. She'll look great on camera for the commercials, and at events" Carina smiled waving at Ella. Ella didn't bother to wave back. In fact she was too pre-occupied with trying Brooke's rings on her tiny fingers to have any clue what was going on.

"I'm sorry"

"Marshall, don't"

"We knew there was a chance" Marshall whispered, trying to make things better even though he knew he couldn't. He hadn't imagined in a million years something like this could happen. This was the kind of stuff you only saw on those ridiculous shows like The OC. Not in real life.

"We? We knew nothing."

"Brooke"

"No! You can't do this to us! You can't let us get this attached and then just take her away! You gave us the ok!" Brooke was mad now. She couldn't help but yell as a tear slid down her cheek. What else was she supposed to do?

"There's nothing I can do"

"We really are sorry for any trouble we have caused, but we best get going"

"Now?" Lucas asked, he thought they'd at least give them a little while. At least time for him and Brooke to flea the country.

"We would like to get her home and settled with the nanny"

"A nanny"

"Like I said earlier, I don't know much about young children" Carina laughed. Brooke didn't find this funny at all. A nanny? Brooke wasn't even that bad when it came to parenting.

"She doesn't have any of her things"

"We'll be fine. Our nanny has taken care of those things" Carina said, reaching to take Ella from Brooke's arms.

"Nowa"

"Come on, we best get going"

"Wheres?" Ella asked still clinging to Brooke's hand.

"To our house"

"Comes on Mommy"

"I, I'm gonna stay here baby ok?" Brooke whispered not sure she could get her whole sentence out. She felt so bad for just letting them take her, but she didn't know what else to do. Lucas was just sitting there, as still and in shock as she was.

"I stays too"

"No darling, you have to come with us"

"Daddy come?" Ella asked reaching for Lucas's hand.

"I have to stay here"

"I don't go"

"I bet they have a lot of fun toys, and pretty dresses" Brooke said trying so hard to smile. She didn't want to let them take her, but she also didn't want Ella to be scared to go. She wasn't sure she could stand to see her crying as they took her away. She'd have to pretend she knew she was happy with them.

"We have a cat"

"She's allergic to cats"

"Right, well thank you for taking such food care of her, come on" Richard said finally grabbing Ella away from Brooke.

"You be heres in a minutes"

Brooke nodded and then turned away. She couldn't watch them take her away. These people were as bad as her parents with nanny's and maids. None of this was fair. Why Ella? She wanted Ella more than anything. Why couldn't she have just gotten to keep Ella and not gotten pregnant. It seemed to make more sense that way anyway. She felt completely numb. Any crying that had been done was over, at least for now. Sometimes there was just that point where you're too shocked to cry. The whole thing just hurt too bad.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25! YAY hahaha 2 more to go!

Brooke felt like she was at a funeral sitting there, listening as Karen talked to her and Lucas. She wasn't really sure what Karen was saying, nor did she care at this point. She didn't need someone telling her this was all for the best. That maybe there was a reason behind it. The only reason Brooke could think of was that someone seriously hated her, and was determined to make her life miserable. It hadn't even been 3 days since they took Ella and Karen was already lecturing them to move on, start things for the new baby. The words burned Brooke's ears. New baby. How was she supposed to think of that right now? Or ever. She'd lost the only baby she'd ever wanted, and now she was expected to be someone else's mother in less than 6 months. As far as she was concerned it wasn't happening. Even Lucas, who for the most part had been pretty excited about having a baby didn't want to talk about it.

"You two are 19! You shouldn't be having a baby in the first place, much less adopting one" Karen said for the 3rd time in an hour. Lucas knew she was trying to help. At least he hoped that's what she was doing but either way it wasn't working. He felt terrible, and the more she kept saying the worse he felt.

"Please don't"

"I have too. As far as I'm concerned I'm a parent to both of you. Lucas go get a shower, Brooke go get dressed"

"What's the point?" Brooke asked slowly. She found the slower she talked, the easier it was to keep from crying. Here it had been 3 days and things still hadn't gotten any easier. Time wasn't helping anything; it was just making the dark circles under her eyes bigger and bigger.

"The point is that you have a responsibility to this baby you've made together to take care of yourselves and it. You've got a doctors appointment in an hour"

"I went last week"

"Well you're going this week too. When was the last time you ate something?" Karen asked trying to straighten up the bedroom as she talked. It was a wreck. The whole place was. She knew this whole thing with Ella had been a bad idea. She'd known it from the beginning. She'd had her reasons for not saying anything but now she was wishing she had.

"I don't know"

"I'm giving you two 30 minutes. I have to go feed Erin"

"I really hate your mother right now, where are you going?" Brooke asked laying back down on her pillow. The morning sickness was starting in, at least she thought it was morning sickness. Maybe it was grief. Either way her head was pounding and it hurt to sit up. She wanted Lucas just to lay with her, like he'd been doing the past few days. She didn't like him listening to Karen.

"Shower"

"Lucas"

"Brooke we cant do this forever" Lucas sighed. The way he said it burned Brooke. She'd never ever seen him like this. He sounded so hurt.

"We just sat there. We just sat there and let them take her"

"There was nothing we could do"

"There had to of been something. We're 19, not helpless. Do you even care?" Brooke asked, she could feel her eyes start to swell with tears again. She knew she shouldn't have asked him that, of course he cared. But it was just so much easier to yell at him then to have to think about how much they were both hurting.

"Don't even ask me that! Brooke don't you think this is killing me as much as it is you? But what are we supposed to do?"

"I don't know"

"You have to go to the doctor Brooke" Lucas finally said. If his mother was right about anything it was that. Brooke did look pretty bad. She was so pale. He wasn't sure why he hadn't noticed it before now. Maybe he just hadn't wanted too. Either way he couldn't have anything happen to her.

"Why?"

"Because if something happens we're just as bad as they are, and I won't do that"

"Just us. I don't want your mother there"

Brooke threw on a pair of Juicy's that were almost too tight in the stomach, a tank top, and pulled her hair back in a ponytail. She wasn't really going for glamorous today. She really didn't want to go in the first place, but Lucas had a point. Sure she didn't want this baby that much, but if something were to happen to it of course she'd feel terrible. She'd kind of gotten used to the idea that it was there now, and even though she hated the thought of having it without Ella there to try and help. It wasn't the babies fault all of this was happening, although it was easier to lay some of the blame on it.

After making sure that Karen and Nathan were nowhere in site, Brooke snuck into the kitchen to find something to eat. Find being the key word. It wasn't like she and Lucas were big on the whole grocery-shopping thing, they pretty much ate out for every meal. After finding some teddy grahams and a Pepsi, which Brooke figured should tide her over for now. She waited at the table for Lucas to finish getting ready. Nathan was at the other end of the table, looking just as miserable as she was. Although she guessed he probably didn't have the amount of morning sickness that she did.

"Did you ever talk to Peyton?" Brooke asked, figuring a new subject of conversation was needed. Maybe that would help a little.

"Yea"

"That bad?"

"She doesn't want me to help out" Nathan sighed tracing his fingers across the table. Brooke thought about it for a second. What was wrong with them? They were 19, it was supposed to be about beer and parties and sex. Not worrying and stressing over being parents. That just wasn't how it was supposed to be. At least it wasn't how she'd imagined it when she was 15 and looking forward to college life. Somewhere in between then and now it had all just gotten so complicated.

"I'm sure she does Nate, she's probably just scared you don't want too"

"I don't know what I want"

"I hear ya" Brooke whispered looking down at her swollen stomach. She hadn't realized how big she'd actually gotten until just then in her tight tank top and Juicy's. Well maybe not big, but she was definitely showing.

"Sorry about Ella"

"Yea"

"I didn't realize you guys love her so much" Nathan said giving Brooke a sad smile. Brooke knew he was trying to help, but that didn't make it burn any less. It made her wonder if it would always hurt this bad. Maybe it would be better one day. But the thought of that, the thought of not missing Ella as much hurt even worse.

"I don't think we did either. But I mean its not like she's dead or something. She's probably there watching Dora and trying to speak Spanish or something"

"She knew more Spanish than I did"

"You and me both" Brooke laughed hoping she was right. That Ella was at least happy where she was. Even if it were with some nanny watching Cartoons all day.

"How's Lucas taking it?"

"I think harder than me if that's possible"

"He seemed excited about the baby" Again Brooke knew Nathan was trying to help, but he really wasn't.

"He is, well at least he was. I think I was too actually"

"And now?"

"Its not the same" Brooke sighed trying not to think about it too hard.

"I'd ask you what Ella would want, but I'm guessing since she's 2 you have no idea"

"Not so much"

"I'm really sorry" Nathan whispered, giving Brooke a sincerely sad smile this time. This time it did make her feel a little better, if that was possible.

"Me too"

The drive to the doctors office was pretty quiet. Brooke spent the entire time trying to ignore Ella's car seat in the back seat and focus on her chipped fingernails. Lucas meanwhile didn't even remember driving there once they were in the doctors office waiting room. Everything was kind of a blur to him. So much so that when the doctor came into the room to examine Brooke, neither of them were paying any attention until she started almost yelling at them.

"Brooke you have to take better care of yourself" Dr. Owens sighed looking through Brooke's blood work. She was somewhat dehydrated, completely exhausted, weak. When she'd seen her just 4 days ago she'd been more than healthy.

"Yea"

"Is she listening to me?"

"What?" Lucas asked catching about half of what she asked him. He was to busy focusing on Brooke.

"Ok I realize that you two are 19, and probably have more important things on your plate like school and whatever. But if you don't start taking better care of yourself then its not going to be just your baby suffering. You're running a fever, you've actually lost weight, when was the last time you slept?"

"I don't know"

"What's going on?" Dr. Owens asked expecting an explanation. She'd only seen Brooke a few times but from what she'd seen Brooke was a compliant patient. She ate semi ok foods, exercised, took the vitamins she had given her. You couldn't have asked for a better patient. Now suddenly she was a doctors worst nightmare.

"They took Ella"

"Who?"

"Her, parents" Brooke sighed figuring that's what she should call them now.

"I'm so sorry, I know you two really cared about her. I need you to think about his baby now ok? As much as it hurts I need it to be your number 1 priority or you're going to be grieving 2 losses"

"Ok"

"I want to see you again in week, and we'll go from there. Get some rest. Lucas make her rest" Dr. Owens said sternly. She hoped they were both listening to her, because if they weren't Ella wasn't going to be the only child they lost.

"Yea"

"In about a month we'll be able to find out the sex of the baby, that's something to look forward too right?"

"Sure" Brooke smiled, trying to at least look excited. Maybe in a month she'd care more, but right now she really didn't.

"I am sorry you two"

The ride back home was almost was quiet as the one there. Brooke now had the added guilt of that the doctor had told her and she felt terrible. What was wrong with her? She knew better than this. It didn't take a genius to know that when you were pregnant, you had to do basic things like eat and drink on a regular basis. There was no getting around it like she used to could when she was upset or pissed off. This whole situation was messing with everyone.

"What do you want for lunch?" Lucas asked deciding he was going to make Brooke eat.

"Anything but chicken, I've suddenly developed a hate for chicken"

"Chicken?"

"Yea, it was the last thing I ate Tuesday and the first thing up Wednesday morning. I don't do the chicken thing anymore" Brooke half laughed. At this rate she wasn't going to be able to eat anything. Morning sickness had always been described to her as a pain but she hadn't really taken it seriously until now.

"Hamburger?"

"How do they expect me to eat when everything sounds so gross?"

"Cake" Lucas asked just throwing whatever he could think of out there.

"I could do cake, oh and a hot dog. I think I could do a hot dog too, and watermelon"

"Where are we supposed t o eat that has cake, watermelon and hot dogs?"

"I have no idea, but at least it will keep us out of the house for a while looking" Brooke said, hoping maybe they'd have to drive all the way to New Jersey to find watermelon. She really didn't want to go back home and deal with Karen. She wasn't sure she had the energy at this point. Maybe after she'd eaten something and felt better she could fight back. But not right now.

"The longer away from my mother the better"

"Are you worried?"

"About what?" Lucas asked hearing the seriousness in Brooke's voice. He could tell this was going to be an intense conversation and wished maybe she had waited until he wasn't driving to bring it up.

"That it'll be a girl, or that we wont love it like we should. I have as much guilt about the baby as I do about letting them take Ella. I don't want to be my parents"

"You wont be ok? Of course I'm worried. But so is every other couples getting ready to have a baby. Its natural"

"I'm scared of loving it more than Ella now that we don't have her with us anymore" Brooke finally said after a long pause. This was the thing that terrified her most she thought. The thought of one day it not hurting not to have Ella. She said she wanted the pain to go away, and just to feel good again. But really that scared her most. Not having the pain there anymore. Being ok with the fact that they didn't have Ella.

"Brooke, we're gonna love this baby. Its our baby, I don't think its possible not too. But that doesn't mean we'll love it anymore or less than Ella. Legally or not she was ours too"

"I hate this so much"

"I know, me too"

After giving up on their search for watermelon, Brooke and Lucas settled on their usual Chili's and then headed back home. Nathan's car was gone, but of course Karen was still there. Brooke figured she'd probably cleaned the whole house twice by now. With any look maybe she'd started cooking too. They were kind of low on things to eat. Upstairs Erin was in her bouncer in front of Karen's favorite baby sitter, the TV. Brooke could smell something cooking, which was a good sign but Karen wasn't anywhere to be found.

"What are you doing?" Brooke asked finding Karen in Ella's room throwing things in bags. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Karen had no right to be in that room, much less messing with anything.

"Cleaning out some clutter"

"That's Ella's stuff"

"Maybe you should take it to the children's home. Give it to her friends" Karen smiled like she had given Brooke a nice idea. Brooke could feel her blood starting to boil. She'd completely cleaned out the entire room almost, right down to the letters on the wall Peyton had hand painted spelling out Ella.

"No, this is her room"

"It would work so much better as the baby's room"

"Mom, what the hell?" Lucas asked meeting the girls in Ella's bedroom. He wasn't sure if he was more worried about the fact that Brooke was trembling as she yelled at Karen, or that she felt completely hot to the touch. Karen had taken things way to far this time.

"This is Ella's room"

"Brooke, there's no reason to keep this stuff here"

"I want it here" Brooke cried not able to hold back her tears. Her head was pounding now and she could feel the heat coming off her forehead.

"Ok, I've been as supportive as I could with this but the 2 of you are being ridiculous now"

"We just lost our child"

"She wasn't your child Brooke!" Karen yelled trying to get her point across. She could see the pissed off look on Lucas's face as she yelled. He was just as bad as Brooke when it came to this.

"No, that baby you are carrying, that neither of you seem to give a damn about is your child"

"Mom, don't"

"Lucas, go take her to lie down. She looks terrible" Karen sighed continuing to put stuff in bags. She wasn't going to sit here and watch as they cried and mourned over something that wasn't really there's in the first place.

"I'm fine. Stop moving the stuff"

"You knew her for barely a year!"

"How long have you had Erin?" Brooke asked completely infuriated. She could barely stand straight she was so mad. How could Karen sit there and imply just because they'd only known Ella for a year they didn't love her?

"I gave birth to Erin, that's completely different"

"No its not. Stop"

"Mom, leave the room alone" Lucas said taking the bag she was filling from her. He wasn't going to let her do this, not to him and definitely not to Brooke. It wasn't her place to try and tell them how much they loved Ella, and how much they were hurting.

"I'm not going to watch as you two sit here and ruin your lives over this. You weren't her parents"

"I sat up with her 4 nights straight when she had the flu, I gave up France for her!"

"Well you shouldn't have" Karen yelled taking the bag back from Lucas.

"Brooke, sit down" Lucas whispered trying anything to get her just to rest. She looked so bad standing there shaking and crying. It couldn't be good for her to be this upset.

"No, I want her out"

"Mom, just go"

"I wont sit back and watch as you two do this to yourselves" Karen said for what seemed like the 10th time. They just weren't getting it. She was trying to help them.

"Look, she's hurting. We both are. You're just upsetting her and she doesn't need that right now ok? Just take Erin and go home. We'll call you" Lucas whispered taking Karen aside for a minute. He had to get her out of her before she got Brooke anymore upset.

"Lucas"

"Mom, just go"

"No, Brooke" Karen gasped watching as Brooke fell to the floor

"Go call someone!"

J


	26. Chapter 26

Sorry its taken me so long to update! Its suddenly become vacation part of this summer and the days fly by! Anyway thank you for all the reviews for the last chapter! they were wonderful! I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Theres one left before the end... Then I'll start posting Shake. ENJOY! 

Brooke tried to open her eyes, but everything was so bright. She could hear voices in the distance. It sounded like Lucas but she wasn't sure. Her stomach was completely cramped up and even though she knew she had blankets on her, she was still in a cold sweat. That might have explained the dream she had had. It was something to do with Titanic and sinking. Only she was Rose and Lucas was Jack. And she was wearing a Juicy dress as the ship went down. The more she thought the more lucent she became, and the more pain she was feeling. Her muscles hurt from shaking and she was freezing, even though she could feel like sweat on her neck. She had no idea where she was, or who was with her.

"Brooke, sweetie are you feeling any pain?" Brooke heard a woman ask, and then touch her on the head. She opened her eyes just wide enough to see it was maybe the nurse. It wasn't until then she realized she was actually in the hospital, with an IV and the whole 9 yards.

"My stomach"

"You started contracting a little bit, we've got some medicine in your IV to hopefully stop them"

"Where's Lucas?" Brooke asked trying to make out who all was in the room. Her eyes were still blurry from waking up but from what she could tell the nurse was the only one in there with her.

"He went to talk to the doctor, he should be back momentarily. Is there anything I can get you?"

"What happened?"

"Looks like you wore yourself out. Sometimes when you get too dehydrated you can pass out" The nurse smiled sitting the bed up a little bit. Brooke didn't remember anything. Last think she knew she was yelling at Karen about Ella and the bedroom.

"And my stomach?"

"The fall probably triggered something. You've got a nice bruise on your head too. But we're pumping you full of fluids and you should be good to go in a day or so"

"Is the baby ok?" Brooke was almost scared to ask. She was having some pretty intense pain in her stomach and she guessed that wasn't normal, or good. It was like throbbing almost, but then again so was the rest of her body including her head.

"I'll let you talk to the doctor"

"God, Brooke you scared the hell out of me" Lucas sighed seeing that Brooke was awake from outside the door. He went inside and kissed the top of her head, then sat in the chair beside her bed. She looked a lot better now than she had earlier. She actually had some color to her face and the dark circles were almost completely gone.

"Sorry"

"Are you feeling ok?"

"My stomach is killing me" Brooke winced in pain as it shot up her lower back. That definitely couldn't have been normal.

"You knocked yourself pretty good when you fell. It put you into a pre-term labor" Dr. Owens said as she adjusted something on Brooke's IV pole. Brooke couldn't believe what she was hearing. She wasn't even 4 months pregnant yet, sure she wasn't exactly ready to have a baby, but that didn't mean she wanted to loose it either.

"Oh God"

"Don't start worrying yet, we've got you on some medicine that should stop it, then we'll do an amnio tomorrow, where we stick a needle into your belly and check on the baby. As far as we can tell everything's fine ok? We need you the least stressed as possible"

"Sure" Brooke whispered trying to ignore the pain she was feeling all over her body.

"I'll be back later, page me if you need anything" Dr. Owens smiled leaving Brooke and Lucas alone in the room.

"So this has been a crappy few days"

"Tell me about it, if my heart can make it through this it can make it through anything"

"What if they don't stop?" Brooke cried feeling the pain up her back again. She wasn't sure if she was crying because she was scared, or if it was just hurting that bad.

"They will ok? Just don't stress"

"Where's your mom?"

"Waiting room probably, she's kinda scared of you right now" Lucas laughed taking Brooke's hand. Brooke collapsing had definitely scared some sense into his mom. So much so she'd gone to like down in the waiting room and think.

"Because I definitely fill like getting out of this bed to hurt her"

"They can probably give you some pain meds"

"Mr. Scott, there's a lady in the ER trying to get in contact with you? Dark hair, kind of annoying, has a baby girl with her?" The nurse said knocking on the door. If anything was going to make Brooke laugh it was this. Karen had turned into such a hypochondriac lately with all her medical elements. She probably thought she was having a heart attack or something.

"That would be my mother, can you tell her to just call me later?"

"She says its an emergency, she tried a number or something"

"Go, and bring me back some ice cream or something" Brooke sighed giving Lucas the ok. She needed some time to be alone and think anyway.

"You sure?"

"Before your mother convinces herself she has something else wrong with her, go"

"Ok, I'll be back after I convince my mother she's crazy" Lucas laughed kissing Brooke on the forehead before leaving. He was seriously going to kill his mother for this one. She couldn't let him just sit with Brooke for a little while. That wasn't giving he enough attention, after all she was his mother and she claimed she still came first.

Downstairs in the ER Lucas went to the front desk to see what the hell was wrong with his mother. It had better have been something serious for her to drag him all the way down here and leave Brooke alone. But it probably wasn't. Knowing her she probably had some kind of headache she thought was a brain tumor or a stomachache that she just knew was appendicitis. He just couldn't wait for Erin to get old enough to deal with Karen's many new issues. She hadn't always been like this, in fact she had never been like this until Keith went away to Rehab. Of course he felt bad for his mom, and Keith and knew she was probably craving attention with him gone. But seriously, this was getting to be too much.

"Can I help you?" The receptionist at the front desk asked

"Lucas Scott, My mother was paging me"

"Little girl with her?"

"That would be my sister" Lucas sighed, and followed the woman down the hallway. He was surprised they'd actually put her in a room. Usually they just ignored her and sent her home with a Tylenol.

"She's your mother? I hope I look that good when my sons your age. She looks too young to be your mother"

"Tell her that one, she'll appreciate, that's not my mother" Lucas said as the nurse pointed him to the room. There was a woman, maybe in her mid 30's standing in the doorway looking out, but she definitely wasn't his mother.

"She's the one who was paging you"

"I've never seen her before in my life"

"It says right here on the contract sheet. In case of emergency call Lucas Scott or Brooke Davis, and has both phone numbers" The receptionist said looking through the chart to make sure there hadn't been some kind of a mistake. But there it was, in plain black ink. Emergency Contacts. Lucas E. Scott and Brooke P. Davis with their phone numbers printed clearly under their names.

"Maybe its in the wrong chart"

"Name Isabella"

"Wait what?" Lucas asked completely confused. He didn't have time to deal with this, especially if it wasn't about his mom.

"Are you Lucas?" The woman in the doorway asked meeting Lucas in the hallway. She looked completely frazzled and distressed, and was completely sopping wet. For a second Lucas thought this was some kind of bad joke, until then, right behind the woman there was Ella. With a big pink cast on her arm running towards Lucas.

"Daddy!"

"What's going on?"

"I falled downs" Ella said very matter of factly showing Lucas her bright pink cast as he pulled her up into his arms.

"She jumped off the sink into the bathtub, I'm Richard and Carina's neighbor. I didn't even know they had a little girl until the maid called me crying, in Spanish might I add. Apparently they're at some party? I called them and they told me to bring her here but I've got 3 kids of my own at home. I can't stay here with her"

"They aren't coming?"

"Are you kidding me? Leave a precious party? Especially since they're leaving for DC tomorrow. We'll be lucky to hear from them in a week or so. Does she have anywhere to stay? I'd keep her but like I said I've got 3 kids of my own, and without knowing a time frame" The woman was talking so fast Lucas could barely understand her. It wasn't like it mattered anyway, he sure as hell wasn't sending Ella back anywhere near that place.

"I've got her"

"Are you sure?"

"Yea, if you hear from them, you tell them to call me" Lucas said, then thanked the woman for calling him.

"Sure, and I'm sure they'll pay you very well for this. That's what they do best after all"

"They have no idea"

"You be good" The woman smiled, patting Ella on the head and waving bye. Lucas stood there holding Ella as she left. Ella really didn't seem too affected by the past few days. She was giggling and waving bye to the woman like she'd known her forever.

"Off the sink into the bathtub?" Lucas laughed taking Ella back into her little curtain area. Somehow that didn't surprise him. It was just a matter of time before she'd done something like that anyway.

"Like Dorwa"

"Yea, no more Dora for you"

"Where's is mommy?" Ella asked looking around almost like she was expecting Brooke to be there too. He almost hated to do this again, to even take her upstairs to see Brooke if they were just going to take her away again. It wasn't fair to any of them to have to keep doing this.

"She's sick"

"We go buys her prize?"

"What should we get her?" Lucas asked making small talk with the little girl while they waited for the doctor to come back in. He hadn't realized how much he'd really really missed her until he saw her smile and giggle as she thought about what to get Brooke as a present.

"A rwing"

"We already got her one"

"A maps" Ella shrieked, apparently judging from how excited she was, thinking it was the most brilliant present anyone could ever get.

"A map?"

"Likes Dorwa"

"You look like Dora" Lucas laughed hugging Ella tight.

"I miss yous"

"I missed you too baby girl"

"Ok, Ella? Just keep that dry and take her to see her regular physician in about 4 weeks. She's free to go. No more jumping off of sinks ok?" The doctor said coming in to give Lucas Ella's discharge papers and some instructions about how to take care of a cast.

"Oks"

"Good luck" the doctor smiled, giving Lucas one of those "I feel for you" pats on the shoulder as he left.

Brooke flipped channels while she waited for Lucas to come back. Luckily a Desperate Housewives marathon was on to entertain her. Now that thankfully her stomach wasn't cramping anyone, and any pain she was having everywhere else was now gone she was actually pretty bored. Maybe it would at least be a good episode and she could get some evil ideas from Gabby. Right as it flipped to commercial Karen knocked on the door a few times and walked in carrying Erin, without Lucas. Maybe he'd actually gone to get her ice cream like she'd asked.

"How are you feeling?" Karen asked taking the seat beside Brooke's bed. She felt so bad for everything that had happened today. And the fact that it all could have turned out so much worse made her feel even more guilty.

"A lot better, where's Lucas?"

"I don't know, last time I saw him he was in here with you"

"You didn't page him downstairs?" Brooke asked knowing she had clearly heard Lucas say it was Karen. She had some pain meds in her but not that much, at least she didn't think it was that much.

"I fell asleep actually. You look so much better"

"Yea, so you didn't page him?"

"No" Karen said just as confused as Brooke.

"Ok then"

"So, I know you haven't really had these sorts of things on your mind. But have you thought of any names for the baby?"

"To tell you the truth, not one" Brooke laughed. In fact she'd almost completely forgotten about little stuff like that. Names were probably important, and so were a lot of other things Brooke hadn't even had the time to think about right now.

"That's ok, you still have a while"

"Thank god"

"Scared you pretty bad huh?" Karen asked seeing the fear in Brooke's eyes. As bad as it sounded, sometimes people in Brooke's situation needed little scares like this to happen, to make them realize what they had.

"A lot worse than I thought it would, hey where's my ice cream?" Brooke whined seeing Lucas come into the room empty handed. She had really been looking forward to that ice cream too.

"I found something even better"

"What?"

"You have to guess" Lucas smiled. She didn't like that smile. Usually that was his "I got you something I think is really awesome, when really you wont like it" smile.

"Lucas, seriously? Are you going to make me do this?"

"Yep"

"Your sick sick fiancé, who is having your baby might I add. Just give it to me" Brooke whined, hoping he was maybe just hiding her ice cream outside, with maybe some really hot male nurse to give her a sponge bath. She could definitely deal with that.

"Nope"

"Ugh, fine. Um, some new coach wedges"

"Because they definitely sell those in the ER" Lucas laughed checking to make sure Ella was still standing out of site.

"Um, some glove chickens"

"Nope"

"Lucas this is cruel" Brooke whined even louder not seeing the point. Her ice cream was going to melt if that's what it was, and then she was going to hurt him seriously bad. Or better yet, she'd have her hott male nurse fight Lucas shirtless. Lucas would probably win but that was ok.

"How do you feel about pink casts?"

"Pink casts? Lucas I think this lack of sleep is, Oh my god" Brooke shrieked almost pulling her IV out she sat up so fast. Maybe she was dreaming, or maybe they had pumped her seriously full of pain meds to the point of hallucination.

"I'm partial to blue but"

"What did you do, kidnap her?"

"I falled down" Ella laughed as Lucas put her on the bed next to Brooke.

"Those crackwhores! What did they do to you baby?" Brooke cried pulling the little girl into her arms.

"Actually she did it to herself, jumping from a sink into the bath tub"

"Uh huh"

"Its pwink" Ella smiled pointing out the obvious to Brooke. This was when being pregnant and hormonal caught up her and she could feel her eyes start to fill with tears.

"I see that, I missed you!"

"I crwied"

"Me too. Where are Richard and Carina?" Brooke asked hoping Lucas would say dead, or better yet, suffering a slow death somewhere cark and painful.

"DC or something?"

"Awre you sick?"

"I think the baby missed you too much" Brooke smiled kissing Ella on the forehead.

"Pwoor baby"

"They'll probably take her back wont they"

"Probably, unless we called Marshall right now and told him everything. Even then there's no guarantee" Lucas sighed knowing this probably wouldn't last but so long. But at least this time they would be prepared, and have the chance to say bye if they had too.

"Maybe they just wont come back from DC"

"We can always hope"


	27. Chapter 27

This chapter wasn't easy to write. In fact I've been sitting here for about a month on and off trying to figure out how I wanted to end it. 99 of you guys, my reviewers want Brooke and Lucas to get Ella, while the other 1 feels like my writing is stupid and completely un-realistic. Haha. Even though it was only a whole 2 reviews, it made me think, and make it that much harder to write. It made me think "Wow, is my writing really that bad? So un-realistic that no one wants to read it?" So, I sat back and did what I always do when I need inspiration. I watched One Tree Hill. As I was watching Nathan and Haley, two 16 year olds getting married, or Dan and Karen running for Mayor, or all these 17 year olds with no parental supervision whatsoever, or more of the zillion other completely un-realistic things that happen on our favorite show, it hit me. That'sWHY I watch it. Not because it's all-true and could happen. If I _want_ real and true I can walk outside. I watch it because it gets me away from the REAL world for that one hour and lets me live in sort of a fantasyland. Which is the same reason I write. I write for FUN, and the hope that you guys can enjoy it while you read. I never said my stories were going to be completely realistic or true. And for that 99 of you who have read this story and reviewed, THANK YOU SO MUCH. You guys are so awesome and you give me inspiration to write! I love you! Haha. And that other 1, I'm sorry you don't like my writing, but you don't have to read it.

And of course, the biggest thanks EVER goes to Kaela! Without her, there seriously would be no story because she saved me from some of the WORST writers blocks ever, and helped come up with almost every idea in this story! So without her, this story would just be sad and depressing and not good! So THANK YOU KAELA! I couldn't write without you!

Its been a good 27 chapters! I never planned on taking this story this long, or having what happened in it happen, haha but I hope you all enjoyed it. Its kind of been my rebound story after S&S. I'm now going to write the last chapter and end it the way I think it should be ended. Not end it the "Realistic way". Thank you so much! My new story "Shake" will be up soon! I'm actually heading to LA for about 10 days (Leaving Friday) and so updating may be kind of crazy and off... but I'll do my best!

_Hope is the thing with feathers_  
_That perches in the soul._  
_And sings the tune_  
_Without the words,_  
_and never stops at all._

**_Emily Dickinson_**

Lucas Scott had always believed in hope. Ever since he could remember his mother had told him to hold tight to his hopes and dreams. Of course, they had changed many times over the years. One time he had hoped and dreamed of becoming a dog so he wouldn't have to go to school, and could play around the house all day with his mom. That hope had died quickly after his dog Rocket had been hit by a car. Then when he was older, he had hoped to be one of the popular kids in high school. To have a beautiful girlfriend, and a ton of guy friends to hang out with. Of course this dream hadn't come true until about 3 years after he had wanted it. But he guessed that didn't matter, what counted was that it had happened at some point.

For a while, things had been going so well for so long, he hadn't had to hope or dream for anything. He had everything he wanted, a beautiful fiancé, a baby on the way, and was in the process of adopting Ella. At least until 5 months ago, when everything had been turned completely upside down. Now they waited everyday for any kind of news about Ella. Still clinging to hope that somehow everything would work out right for once and they could have her.

With all of this, on top of the fact that Brooke a good 8 and ½ month's pregnant, and completely miserable, tensions were running high. Mostly because everything was so un-sure, there was no certainty about anything. For all Brooke and Lucas knew they could come and take Ella at any minute and they'd never see her again. This truth had made the past 5 months extra hard. Both Brooke and Lucas had tried to face the reality of the situation and tried as hard as possible not to get too attached to the way things were. But the longer they had Ella with them, and the longer Richard and Carina just left her there, the easier it was to forget about the "What _could_ happen" and focus on the "What _they_ wanted to happen"

Nathan and Haley were over helping Lucas with some last minute things for the babies room, while Brooke laid on the couch listening to Haley's constant chatter about her future perfect family. Ever since she had finally forgiven Nathan for the whole getting Peyton pregnant thing, she'd been on some rampage talking planning out her future with Nathan. Not that Brooke could blame her, she might be a little crazy too if Lucas had another kid somewhere, but at least both Haley and Nathan were trying, and knowing them they'd be just fine. After all they were Naley.

But them being Naley didn't make Brooke any less bored. Even Ella wasn't very entertaining today. Nathan and Haley had brought her some kind of Dora the Explorer paint set, and she was perfectly content with painting her pictures at the kitchen table, leaving Brooke to work on some sketches. She guessed she could go help out with the babies room, but since that was more of a Lucas project she figured she'd just get in the way. At least that was her excuse so she didn't have to help paint.

"Brooke, don't you want to help?" Haley asked joining Brooke on the couch. Brooke knew this was a question that had a set answer. No. Lucas had made it very clear that the room was a surprise and until it was finished she couldn't have anything to do with it. Not that it bothered her, she needed to work anyway.

"Nope"

"Why not? This is your baby's room! It's a big part of having a baby, you should be a part of it"

"I'm giving birth to this baby, I think I'm doing my fair share" Brooke laughed, and then cringed at the thought. She'd so much rather be painting a room then lying here trying to balance pencils on her stomach.

"Whatever you say"

"Besides, I will not watch as Lucas paints that room purples and yellows and greens, and sexually confuses our baby. Why cant we just wait until we know if it's a boy or a girl?"

"Yellows, greens, purples, all reasonable colors for a boy or a girl" Haley sighed rolling her eyes at Brooke. She was putting way to much thought into all of this.

"The baby won't understand what it is its whole life and will be sexually confused. I will not sit back and watch you confuse our child like this"

"You've been on this couch way too long"

"Maybe" Brooke let out a long sigh and laid her sketches on the table. There was no point in trying to work with Haley whining in her ear.

"Have you at least thought of baby names?"

"Tristan if it's a boy, Gabrielle if it's a girl. Lucas can just smile and deal with it"

"And way too much Desperate Housewives" Haley laughed, knowing good and well Lucas had his own names picked out. She couldn't wait to see this fight.

"I've gotta do something in my spare time. So how are things with you and Nathan?"

"Better everyday, I mean its gonna take a while to get back to the way we were but we're working on it"

"That's my Naley" Brooke laughed sarcastically. She was glad they were working things out though, and that Nathan was also finding time to be there for his baby too.

"Mommy lwook!" Ella interrupted the conversation walking in with her hands and arms almost completely covered with blue paint.

"Ella, you look, um beautiful"

"I knew it was a bad idea to leave her in there with 2 guys, Nathan probably told her to do it"

"Daddy did" Ella giggled wiping her cheek, leaving a huge paint streak across her cheek.

"Did he?"

"Uh huh, its Bwlue"

"I see that" Brooke laughed shaking her head at the little girl. They paint had even made its way into her long hair.

"Take a picture!" Brooke heard Lucas yell from the back bedroom.

"Its not as cute when _you_ tell her to do it"

"Smile Ella. He's been making me take pictures through the whole process"

"Let me see" Brooke whined trying to snatch the digital camera from Haley. She didn't like the fact that there was blue paint in the bedroom when they still had no idea if it were a boy or girl. Unless Lucas knew something she didn't.

"Nope, he says you can't see until it's all finished"

"Fine, leave me here. I'm gonna go do something useful and give _someone_ a bath" Brooke smiled sticking her tongue out at Ella.

"With pwink bwubbles?" Ella asked spreading more paint across her chin and cheeks as she got excited.

"Yes, pink bubbles"

"I'm gonna go help the guys, you two have fun"

"Fun? Have you ever tried giving a 3 year old a bath?" Brooke laughed taking Ella's paint covered hand in hers. Giving Ella a bath was always an adventure.

"You love it"

Back in the bedroom Lucas and Nathan were waiting for Haley to let them know if they're plan had worked. Sending Ella out with blue paint on her hands would definitely throw Brooke off. Little did she know Lucas had done a little re-search of his own, calling the doctor and convincing him that they had changed their mind, and did want to know the sex of the baby. Brooke Davis may have just met her match on this one. Now they all just had to keep it a secret from Brooke.

"Did she fall for it?" Lucas asked as soon as Haley came back into the room. His little hints to throw her off hadn't been working like he'd wanted lately and it was time to get drastic.

"I don't think she even really noticed it was blue"

"Its ok, I told Ella it was a boy"

"Lucas! You're going to make that poor little girl think she's getting a brother" Haley laughed, almost shocked at how devious Lucas was being about this. Ever since he'd found out the baby was a girl he'd done everything possible to trick Brooke into thinking it was a boy. Sadly, Haley didn't think Brooke was falling for it.

"She's 3, I don't think there's much of a difference in her mind"

"Whatever you say, but seriously you two. Barney themed? Brooke's going to kill you both"

"Babies like Barney" Lucas smiled finishing the last bit of pink on the 3rd wall.

"Like she's going to wait that long"

"That's why we lock the door"

"We're hoping she'll like the baby so much she won't care what its room looks like" Nathan laughed. Haley knew she shouldn't have left those two up to their own devices and planning.

"You realize for this one you're definitely going to have to let her name the baby right?"

"It's a girl so that means no Tristan" Lucas smiled just thankful for that small detail.

"What does she want to name a girl?"

"Gabby. But hey, anything's better than Tristan. I even told her if it were a boy she could name it, and she's so sure it is she agreed. And if it's a girl I get to name her. See my plan?"

"Damn it Lucas! _Your _child is going to kill me!" Brooke shrieked banging on the bedroom door, which Haley had locked on her way in. Lucas wasn't sure who she was talking about. Ella was _his _child when she did something Brooke didn't feel like dealing with, but when the baby kicked so much she couldn't sleep, or something like that. It was his _child_ too.

"What's wrong?"

"Pain" Brooke whined, grabbing her lower back as Lucas came out. Carefully shutting the door so she couldn't see in.

"Bad pain?"

"Yes"

"Where?" Lucas asked as Brooke whined into his chest. It actually wasn't _that_ bad, but it was seriously uncomfortable.

"My back"

"Brooke what's wrong?" Haley asked meeting them in the den.

"I, nevermind"

"Nevermind?"

"It went away" Brooke said, kind of puzzled. Maybe it was something she'd eaten.

"It went away?"

"Mommy I'm cwold!" Ella whined from the bathroom in her towel.

"I'm coming baby"

"No you're not"

"What?" Brooke asked as Haley sat her down on the couch. Haley wasn't as stupid as Brooke apparently was.

"Brooke, I think you're in labor"

"No I'm not, I still have 2 weeks"

"That doesn't matter" Haley laughed, not believing Brooke was this dim when it came to this sort of thing. Anyone and everyone knew the basic rules of having a baby. You have contractions on and off and that's the first sign. Apparently Brooke had skipped health class one too many times.

"Yes it does"

"Did Lyric wait?"

"No but she's a pain in the ass baby" Brooke whined throwing her head against the back couch cushion. This couldn't happen now. She'd spent months getting herself all prepared for the due date. Not 2 weeks before.

"Lucas talk some sense into her!"

"We still have 2 weeks"

"You two shouldn't be aloud to have kids, Brooke at least let us take you to get checked out" Haley sighed hoping that maybe they'd both be better with a baby once they brought it home.

"Why? I"

"Brooke?"

"Pain, son of a bitch" Brooke cried, slapping Lucas's arm until the pain was gone.

"That's it, lets go"

"No"

"Brooke do you really want to pull a Peyton and have this baby on the floor?" Haley asked hoping maybe that would knock some sense into Brooke.

"Lucas get my jacket"

"Nathan I'll drive them, you stay here with Ella until we find out anything"

"I don't do kids" Nathan whined. He didn't know what to do with a 3 year old, much less a girl 3 year old who wanted to play Barbie's, dolls, and Dora.

"Funny coming from someone who has a baby girl"

"Fine"

Haley drove Lucas and Brooke to the hospital since neither of them were in any condition to drive. If anything Lucas looked worse than Brooke. So much so that Brooke was the one holding his hand as they walked into the ER. It didn't take them long to send Brooke upstairs and get her a room, which she wasn't too happy about. In her mind she still had 2 weeks, and even though the pain was getting worse and worse every time, she really just wanted to go home.

"Ow…I want pain meds" Brooke whined squeezing Lucas's hand as hard as she could. She wanted to make sure to cause him as much pain as she was in.

"You don't want to do it natural?"

"I do if you'll let me strangle you"

"Didn't you two talk about any of this?" Haley asked, again surprised at how un-prepared both Brooke and Lucas really were for this.

"You're getting fixed after this"

"Brooke, you don't tolerate pain well do you?"

"No, why?" Brooke whined trying to get comfortable in the horrible bed.

"Because if they just started, they shouldn't be that bad yet"

"Yet?"

"They get stonger" Haley laughed, then stopped seeing the look on Brooke's face. Maybe all those times she'd said she wasn't meant to have children, she hadn't been lying.

"Lucas I want to slap you so bad right now"

"Ok you two, looks like you're going to have a baby today" The doctor smiled walking into Brooke's room, looking over her chart. Hearing this would make most soon to be parents thrilled, but not Brooke, it just made her more pist at Lucas.

"Cant you just knock me out, or shoot me?" Brooke begged, everyone laughed but she wasn't completely sure she was kidding.

"You're about 3 centimeters, you've gotta get to 10"

"And?"

"If we start the pain medicine now it might wear off by the time you really really need it" The doctor sympathized. Brooke just rolled her eyes. It wasn't worth the energy to argue.

"What did I ever do to deserve this?"

Hours passed like minutes. After trying to deal with Ella, for an hour Nathan had given up and just brought her to the hospital so he could wait with Haley in the waiting room. Every once in a while they'd come check in and let Ella visit while Brooke was feeling ok, but once it had hit 10:00 they'd all fallen asleep. Without Ella to entertain her and take her mind off the pain, Brooke had learned to look past her pain and focus on how amusing it was to watch Lucas squint and look so nervous. She'd known he wasn't going to do well with this, but she hadn't expected him to be this bad. Even she was starting to cope with it a little better.

"What are you thinking about?" Brooke asked deciding she'd let him brood for too long.

"The first time we met"

"In your backseat?"

"That wasn't the first time" Lucas laughed remembering Brooke in the backseat. He'd almost forgotten all about that somehow.

"Really?"

"No, it was 7th grade at Peyton's 13th birthday"

"I forgot about that night" Brooke smiled. Probably because she and Peyton had found Larry's Vodka stash for the first time that night.

"You were wearing that purple sparkly shirt that showed your belly button, and I'm pretty sure Haley said you stuffed your bra"

"What whore? Did you slap her?"

"Actually I think I had a crush on Hales, 7th grade Brooke wasn't very nice" Lucas laughed remembering all the things Brooke used to do to his friends.

"Neither was 7th grade Lucas, when I asked you to dance you turned me down"

"Believe me, I wanted to so bad. But Haley kind of hated you and Mouth threatened to beat me up if I did"

"God if we have a boy he's gonna be a wimp isn't he?" Brooke whined trying to imagine Mouth threatening Lucas.

"You're still not very nice"

"Neither are you"

"We're even then" Lucas smiled.

"Ow, you think they can give me drugs yet?"

"I can go ask"

"Hurry or I might have to look through Peyton's purse for some good pills" Brooke cried, trying to find something other than Lucas to hit or break.

"Not nice"

After sending the nurse in to check on Brooke, Lucas walked to the waiting room where Nathan and Haley were fast asleep, and Ella was sitting alone watching whatever Cartoon was on the waiting room TV. Lucas could have shot Nathan and Haley for falling asleep on the job, when Ella could have wondered off anywhere. But it was getting late and he didn't really have the time to worry about that right now.

"Hey baby girl, whatcha watching?" Lucas whispered pulling Ella up into his arms

"Shh, they are slweeping daddy"

"Aren't you sleepy?"

"Nowa, I'm big" Ella yawned leaning her head on Lucas's shoulder, clearly tired. Lucas wasn't sure how much longer she was going to last out here in the waiting room.

"Are you hungry?"

"Nowa"

"You want some ice cream?" Lucas whispered grabbing his wallet out of his back pocket. He wasn't sure when she'd eaten last, and from the looks of things Nathan and Haley had been asleep for a while.

"Banillwa?"

"Whatever kind you want, we'll go check on mommy and then go get some ok?"

"Does she have the baby ywet?" Ella whined clearly annoyed with the whole situation. Lucas didn't blame her, he kinda wished things would start moving a little faster too.

"Not yet"

"What is twaking its so long?"

"Lucas" Lucas heard a voice behind him. He knew exactly who it was before he even turned around.

"Marshall?"

"I need to talk to you, I called your mom and she said you were here"

"Mr. Scott? We need you… now" A nurse said coming out of Brooke's room and basically pulling Lucas in.

"Can you watch her for a sec?"

"Brooke, push!"

"No damn it! I want pain medicine" Brooke screamed ignoring everything the doctor was saying. This was not how this was supposed to go. There was supposed to be pain medicine and time and warning before she actually had to do any of this.

"What's going on?"

She's ready, Brooke if you just push you can have this baby in minutes" The doctor said, obviously getting frustrated with Brooke and her lack of effort.

"Or you can give me something"

"One, two… Brooke!"

"Do I look like a two year old? Oww" Brooke whined gripping Lucas's hand with a death grip.

"Brooke, just do what she says"

"You know I can't reach her to slap her but you're close enough"

"You can't just give her a little something?" Lucas asked, almost being. For his sake more than Brooke's.

"I don't think we're going to have too, Brooke you're half way there"

"You can do it ok?"

"Don't talk to me like a damn lifetime movie! You did this to me, and I swear to god I am going to hurt you after this baby is born" Brooke yelled. She was completely serious at that very moment. So much so she was already planning the method of which to would cause him the most pain.

Ten minutes later, after Brooke had successfully planned Lucas's torture method and was then contemplating on just killing him, it was all over.

"And it's a boy" The doctor said and Brooke listened to her baby cry. Most new mothers would feel a since of satisfaction knowing they had brought a new life into the world, and Brooke did feel satisfied. Only for a completely different reason as she watched Lucas's face turn into complete shock that the baby was a boy.

"What?"

"It's a little boy"

"Wait what?" Lucas asked still not quite understanding what the doctor was saying.

"Hi Tristan" Brooke smiled waving to the tiny baby as they wrapped him in a blanket.

"I called and you said"

"Lets hope he's smarter than you, I called like 3 weeks before you did"

"You knew the whole time?" Lucas asked, now in disbelief that Brooke had beat him to the punch.

"Did you really think I was going to risk us having a girl and you naming her Margaret or something? Besides we both knew you wanted a boy"

"And here's your baby"

"He's so tiny" Brooke whispered taking the baby from the doctor. She was almost scared she was going to drop him he was so tiny.

"Damn it"

"What?"

"He even looks like Tristan" Lucas sighed looking down at the baby. Not that he really cared anymore what they named him. His mom had been right about one thing. When it came to a baby it was love at first sight. Suddenly things like names and such didn't matter so much anymore.

"Of course he does. You know you've caused me a lot of pain the past few months. I'm sure you'll understand if I choose not to breastfeed, and just go home and drink a big big drink" Brooke smiled, talking to the baby like he was an adult.

"Brooke"

"You think I'm kidding?"

"Hey you two, look who I brought in" Marshall said, giving the door a quiet knock with his free arm.

"Hey baby girl, did you just wake up?"

"Uh huh"

"Come here and see your brother" Brooke whispered handing Tristan so Lucas so she could show Ella.

"I wish today wasn't the day I had to give you the bad news"

"Bad news?"

"I'm sorry, I did everything I could. But there are some things, that aren't fair in life and don't always work out" Marshall sighed sitting Ella on the bed beside Brooke as he spoke. Brooke didn't want to hear what he was saying, especially not today of all days.

"What?"

"They left her for 6 months!"

"Like I said, things aren't always fair. You should have planned for this" Marshall continued but Brooke wasn't listening. She looked down at Ella and then at Tristan. She didn't want to do this if she didn't have both of them. She didn't care what Karen or anyone else said.

"How long do we have?"

"About 15 years"

"What?" Brooke and Lucas both asked in unison.

"Until you've gotta start paying those college tuitions, I know its not fair. Education in this country sucks but like I said you should have planned ahead. Well then, maybe she wont want to go to college"

"What are you talking about?"

"They signed over custody a few hours ago" Mashall smiled handing Brooke a manila envelope filled with papers.

"What?"

"So unless you two do something completely stupid and screw up, she's yours"

"Like forever?" Brooke asked, still not sure she was hearing everything right.

"That's usually how it works"

"You hear that Tristan? You will have a big sister to turn you more gay then you'll already be with that pink Barney room of yours"

"Thank you so much" Was all Lucas could say as he watched Ella staring intently at the baby in his arms. It all seemed too good to be true. With way their lives had been going lately Lucas wasn't sure they were ever going to catch a break.

"All I have to say is good luck, you're gonna need it. I'll let you guys be alone for a while, enjoy it while you can. There are tons of people out there"

"Right"

"Ah! It moveded daddy" Ella squealed backing up from the baby as far as possible.

"Baby's tend to do that Ell"

"What dwoes he do?"

"Pretty much just lays here and looks cute" Brooke smiled playing with the tiny babies fingers.

"Aww, dwoes he bite?"

"Does he bite, how have we kept her this sheltered?" Lucas asked trying not to laugh out loud for Ella's sake.

"He doesn't bite silly, but we can play with him and dress him all cute, and make daddy change his diapers"

"I lwike him"

"What's she doing?" Brooke asked watching as Ella patted the baby's head.

"Petting his head like she does Gucci"

"Ok then"

"You realize we aren't going to sleep for the next 18 years don't you?" Lucas asked, completely serious.

"But you were right"

"About what?"

"It was all worth it" Brooke smiled looking at her family. Something she'd never had before. At least not a real one. As messed up as most people would see them, two 20 year olds, not married, still in college, with a 3 year old and a new born by choice (mostly), Brooke Davis wasn't sure she'd want it any other way. Obviously things weren't going to be easy, but what worth having ever was? She'd fought for Lucas, which had been anything but easy, but worth it obviously. Then for Ella, and for that she now had that one thing she needed, that she never even knew she even wanted. And of course there was her new baby, Tristan. Who she could already tell was going to be a serious troublemaker and heart breaker as he laid there in her arms winning over everyone with his adorable little fingers and yawn. It all seemed so perfect.

"Dwoes he bark?" Ella asked looking up at Brooke completely serious as she asked the question. It may have all been worth it, and no, Brooke wouldn't have changed a thing. But she had to agree with Lucas, when it came to the next 18 years… they were in for it.

"_Taking risks is part of life, nothing good is ever handed to you, but when fate brings someone into your life, don't let people's opinions or your fear come between what your heart really wants. Its a scary thing to follow your heart and it is easier to just ignore it, but it's much scarier when you allow fear into your life because you could, miss out on everything you're meant for"_


End file.
